South Korea in March 2026: the most important developments in economy
South Korea's economy in March 2026 was dominated by the Middle East war and the energy shock that came with it. On March 4 South Korean stocks fell more than 12 percent, the worst single-day drop since 2008, with automatic trading halts, amid fears of a global energy shock. The KOSPI rebounded 9.6 percent the next day, and shares fell again by more than 6 percent on March 23. The won weakened past 1,500 per US dollar for the first time in 17 years. Oil rose above $100 a barrel, and fuel prices in Seoul passed 1,900 won per liter.
The government responded with a string of measures. It capped fuel prices, bought six million barrels of crude from the United Arab Emirates, and said it was in talks to import Russian oil and naphtha. It restricted naphtha exports, banned hoarding of urea, planned to lift a cap on coal power and to accelerate the restart of nuclear reactors. QatarEnergy declared force majeure on liquefied natural gas contracts with South Korea and three other countries. On March 24 the government introduced a mandatory five-day vehicle rotation and an energy-saving campaign. On March 26 it announced a supplementary budget, reported at between 23 and 25 trillion won, and was considering cash vouchers.
The chip industry drew the most investment news. Samsung Electronics announced a record investment of over $73 billion for 2026, signed a memorandum of understanding with AMD on AI memory, and announced a partnership with Nvidia, including its HBM4E memory. Samsung's union approved a strike plan and later prepared to resume bonus talks. SK Hynix placed an $8 billion order for ASML chipmaking equipment and began the process of listing its shares in the United States, which could raise up to $14 billion. Samsung ended sales of its $2,899 Galaxy Z TriFold phone after three months.
On trade, the United States opened a Section 301 investigation into South Korea's trade surplus on March 12, the same day parliament passed a bill to carry out a $350 billion investment in US industries.
by WorldBrief & Maksim Micheliov | AI-generated summary
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