South Korea’s Stock-Market Correction Is Turning Into a Youth Wealth Shock

South Korea's latest sharemarket correction is doing far more than erasing paper profits. It is exposing just how dependent many young investors have become on leveraged trading, while highlighting the growing connection between stock speculation, household debt and the dream of owning a home.

The scale of the correction has surprised many investors. Goldman Sachs estimates that more than 1.2 million leveraged retail trading accounts reached margin-call levels, with roughly 320,000 to 360,000 accounts ultimately forced into liquidation. This was not simply another pullback in the KOSPI. It became a broad deleveraging event that swept. . .