Amid a grueling schedule at school in preparation for a career in foreign-service, 24-year-old South Korean Kim Min-sung takes as many side gigs as he can.

That is to fund his other pre-occupation: day trading.

"I have two trading accounts -- one to make seed money to buy a property one day, and the other is for a more aggressive investing to hopefully achieve financial independence and retire early (FIRE) sooner than later.”

Kim says he's unfazed by this month's volatility, with stocks seesawing wildly amid the war in the Middle East.

And he is far from alone.

South Korea's retail investors are known locally as "ants" - individually small, but collectively mighty.

And they have turbo-charged a world-beating doubling in the country's benchmark KOSPI index over six months.

It rallied to an all-time peak on February 27, a day before war broke out in the Middle East.

On March 4, the index plunged 12% - its biggest daily loss ever.

But instead of cashing out, the nation's 14 million ants have doubled down.

This month saw average daily trading volume go above 40 trillion won - or almost $27 billion - for the first time.

On Monday alone, retail investors bought a record $4.6 billion worth of stocks, even as the KOSPI slumped 6.5%.

Kwon Soon-kuk, a full-timer at a retail company in Seoul, used this month's selloff to buy more stocks at a discount.

"The biggest keyword here, I think, is uncertainty. I'm in a situation filled with uncertainty and risk where I don't know when my employment might end, when my paychecks could stop, or how much financial support my child will require, if I have one."

Some analysts caution against overenthusiasm amid the geopolitical uncertainty.

Seo Sang-Young of Mirae Asset Securities says if the war drags on, the economy will inevitably face significant disruption.

“South Korea is very dependent on exports, making it inherently sensitive to external factors. So, if the global economy contracts, South Korea's exports will fall, leading to a fall in corporate profits and, naturally, stock prices as well.”

On Friday morning, the Kospi was down another 3%, but that probably didn't worry the ants.

Posted by: Alma Angeles/NET25 News