The Korea Exchange said a sell-side sidecar was activated on the main KOSPI board at 9:06 a.m. local time. The measure temporarily suspends program selling for five minutes to help contain excessive price swings. A sell-side sidecar is triggered when KOSPI 200 futures fall more than 5 percent from the previous session and remain at that level for at least one minute.
The time-off was also triggered on Monday due to the KOSPI's fall of more than 5 percent.
The week snapped an extraordinary rally for the Korean market this year in a roller-coaster ride toward new heights. The KOSPI had gained 25 percent so far this year as of its fresh peak on Tuesday at 5,371.1. It lost around 12 percent over the following three sessions.
The deep correction was triggered by a panicky selloff in software and technology stocks on Wall Street.
As of 9:40 a.m., the KOSPI was 3.62 percent lower at 4,976.64 and the KOSDAQ down 3.3 percent at 1,071.67. The heavy foreign-led equity selling spree uplifted the U.S. dollar by 3.90 won to 1,472.90.
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