"The Hwang Eun-Hyeon effect" ignites KOSPI: South Korean stock market soars 20% in October, achieving the best single month since 2001.

The South Korean composite stock price index is continuing its strongest monthly surge in over twenty years, further highlighting its increasingly prominent position in the global AI competition - which is closely related to a series of agreements signed between South Korean companies and NVIDIA Corporation(NVDA.US) recently. Following a 20% surge in October (the best monthly performance since 2001), the KOSPI index started November strongly, rising 2.7% at one point on Monday and hitting a new all-time high; it has risen 76% year-to-date, continuing to lead major global stock indices. Monday's broad rally is consistent with recent trends, primarily driven by market confidence in the roles of South Korean tech giants such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in AI innovation. The milestone agreement reached between Trump and South Korea during the APEC summit last week has eased trade tensions and injected additional momentum into the South Korean market, which has been under pressure for most of last year. "Today is the 'Hwang In-hyun effect'," said Ahn Hyung-jin, CEO of Billionfold Asset Management. He added that the impact of Hwang In-hyun's visit to Seoul last week and his talks with Samsung chairman Lee Jae-yong and others "is being magnified in the market." SK Hynix's stock price surged 11% in Monday's trading session on the South Korean stock market, following Amazon.com, Inc. CEO Andy Jassy's statement that the two companies will jointly explore emerging technologies such as agent-based AI. SK Securities analyst Han Dong-hee doubled his target price for the company from 480,000 to 1 million South Korean won after the company announced record quarterly profits, and called for investors to abandon traditional valuation methods used for storage cycles, stating that "a whole new multiple is needed in the new paradigm." (SK Securities has no equity relationship with SK Hynix.) Samsung Electronics also jumped 3.5% in the South Korean stock market trading session after Han Dong-hee raised its target price. KOSPI also received additional momentum from Hyundai Motor, Naver, and others after signing cooperation agreements with NVIDIA Corporation. Hwang In-hyun's visit to South Korea has sparked discussions in South Korea, with a video of him and Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor's executive director Chung Eui-sun visiting a fried chicken shop quickly going viral. Bets on the South Korean AI ecosystem have spread to related companies: power equipment manufacturer HD Hyundai Electric, Siasun Robot&Automation, and autonomous driving concept stocks all rose in sync. Monday's market also showed breadth - in addition to technology, defense stocks such as Hanwha Aerospace and Hanwha Systems surged due to the US-South Korean agreement to build nuclear submarines in American shipyards. In the trade package announced during the APEC summit, the US agreed to reduce tariffs on South Korean imports (such as high-end cars) from 25% to 15%, further boosting market sentiment. To global investors, the support policies of Lee In-myeong (head of the largest opposition party) have also added attractiveness; since early July, they have injected $12.8 billion into the South Korean stock market, consistently demonstrating confidence in the South Korean market.