Tax Plan That Sparked Korea Stock Plunge Forced Into Review

South Korea’s plan to hike taxes on companies and investors, which caused a sudden slump in one of the world’s hottest markets on Friday, is facing mounting discontent that could spell trouble for President Lee Jae Myung’s domestic agenda.

A petitionto withdraw the capital gains hike proposal received more than 50,000 signatures, surpassing the threshold needed to trigger a standing committee review. Already, the ruling Democratic Party floated a possible revision of the plan and the presidential office said there’s a need to study the underlying causes of the stock market decline.

The announcement of the planned tax hikes ...