Korea Roils Market by Floating ‘Citizen Dividend’ From AI (1)

A top South Korean policymaker said the nation should pay citizens a “dividend” using taxes on AI profits, underscoring growing pressure to redistribute gains from a boom that’s enriched chipmakers like Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc.

The comments in a Facebook post by presidential policy chief Kim Yong-beom fueled sharp swings in Korean stocks on Tuesday as investors struggled to parse the scope of the proposals. The benchmark Kospi sank as much as 5.1%, then pared losses after the influential policy adviser clarified he wanted to tap “excess tax revenue” generated from the AI boom, rather than roll ...