Seoul, South Korea - Recent South Korea's financial markets are facing their most turbulent period in years as a constitutional crisis triggered by President Yoon Suk-yeol's controversial martial law declaration earlier this month continues to roil investor confidence. The country's Constitutional Court started a process on December 14 to deliberate a parliamentary decision to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol over his botched martial law declaration, Yonhap news agency reported. The constitutional court will deliberate the impeachment motion for up to 180 days, during which Yoon's presidential power is suspended. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The South Korean currency, the Korean won, plunged to the lowest in 15 years versus the U.S. dollar on Thursday following the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts by 25 basis points on Wednesday. Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), representative stock market index of South Korea, fell about 5.6 percent over the four trading days from December 4 to 9. The first trading day following the approval of the impeachment motion saw the KOSPI close lower, driven by intensified foreign sell-offs. Over the two weeks since the declaration, foreign investors had net sold about 2.4 trillion won (about 16.50 billion U.S. dollars) in the Korean mainboard market. As of Wednesday, the won had depreciated roughly 2.3 percent against the dollar during this period. The crisis has sparked a flight to safety, with retail investors pouring 64 billion won into gold bullion in just 10 trading days, Thursday data from Korea Exchange showed. Meanwhile, inflation concerns are mounting. The depreciation of the won has severely impacted industries heavily reliant on imported raw materials, such as steel and petrochemicals. Data from the Korea International Trade Association indicated that a 10 percent rise in the won's exchange rate against the U.S. dollar would increase manufacturing costs by 3.68 percent. Furthermore, the currency's decline is contributing to rising prices and increasing the cost of living for South Koreans. Gasoline and diesel prices have surged for nine consecutive weeks, and the import price index rose three percent in November compared to the same period of last year, marking the first increase in three months. Shotlist: Seoul, South Korea - Recent: Busan, South Korea - Dec 9, 2024 1. Various of screens at Korean Exchange headquarters, falling stock indexes, stocks; 2. Aerial shot of cityscape; 3. Various of traders working; Seoul, South Korea - Recent 4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Hwang Se-woon, analyst, Korea Capital Market Institute (starting with shot 3/ending with shot 5): "The deep political uncertainty in Korea (due to the martial law) has further increased the market's concern over the stability of national policies, which could also be an important factor leading to continued net selling by foreign investors in the future."; Busan, South Korea - Dec 9, 2024 5. Various of traders working in office, indexes on screens; Seoul, South Korea - Recent 6. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Resident (name not given)(ending with shots 7-8): "The loss rate of stock holdings is increasing, and the last time I looked at it, the loss rate reached 30 percent. Worried about the impact of political risk on stock holdings, I think it may be better to consider investing in safe assets such as bank savings goods. And almost everyone around me with financial habits thinks so."; Busan, South Korea - Dec 19, 2024 7. Various of Korea Exchange headquarters; Seoul, South Korea - Recent 8. Various of people in bank office; pedestrians; 9. Various of customers buying gold bullions; 10. Various of Bank of Korea headquarters; 11. Won banknotes at print works; Busan, South Korea - Dec 19, 2024 12. Various of exchange rates of won on screen; Gyeongnam, South Korea - Recent 13. Various of factories; raw material, businessmen talking to each other; 14. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Lee Eui-hyun, general manager, Daeil Special Steel (ending with shot 15): "In fact, our net profit is only two to three percent. Due to the collapse of the won exchange rate, we could even lose those profits."; 15. Worker in factory; Seoul, South Korea - Recent 16. Various of traffic, cars at gas station; pedestrians; 17. Various of shoppers in super market. [Restriction - No access Chinese mainland]