An important thing to keep in mind is that despite South Korea’s wealth, the sharp rise in its economy and relatively recent regime change means that its instit

An important thing to keep in mind is that despite South Korea’s wealth, the sharp rise in its economy and relatively recent regime change means that its institutions are not battle-tested. This causes its markets to behave more similarly to developing markets, because the institutional trust is not there. It also does not help that historically it was one of the worse managed Asian Tiger economies. During the 1998 crisis it was the only East Asian economy to need an IMF bailout, and it has a very well publicized revolving door of pardons for chaebol CEOs convicted of things like bribery and fraud.