South Korea's Kospi index opened significantly lower on Monday, extending a sharp reversal from record levels reached earlier in the week.
The decline marks a continuation of aggressive profit-taking that has gripped the market, particularly within the technology sector, which has been the primary driver of both the recent rally and the subsequent sell-off.
The benchmark's drop follows a session of heavy selling on Wall Street, where technology stocks also led losses, adding to the pressure on Asian equities.
Investors appear to be locking in gains after the index's rapid ascent to all-time highs, triggering a wave of selling that has yet to find a firm floor.
This volatility underscores the fragility of the recent rally, which was heavily concentrated in a narrow set of high-growth tech names.
As profit-taking accelerates, market breadth has narrowed, with fewer sectors able to offset the losses in the dominant technology group.