Nikkei opens down 0.7%, Kospi drops 3.1% as Samsung, SK Hynix fall

The outsized Kospi move, more than four times the Nikkei's decline, points to a Korea-specific driver rather than broad regional risk aversion, with the memory names accounting for the sharpest drops. That concentration suggests the pressure sits in the semiconductor complex rather than in Asian equities generally. Whether the selling stays confined to those two chipmakers or spreads across the wider Kospi is the open question.