South Korea has been through a lot recently.

Its president attempted to impose martial law in December, causing a period of political upheaval that culminated in his impeachment and removal from office. Then President Trump’s trade war took direct aim at South Korea’s export-heavy economy, especially its cars and electronics.

The stock market in Seoul, which is dominated by local investors, struggled under the weight of domestic and global politics.

But in the past few months, its fortunes have taken a turn. South Korea’s stock market is the best performing in Asia, by a wide margin, in the first half of 2025. The benchmark Kospi index, which includes stocks of the country’s entrenched industrial conglomerates as well as its tech start-ups, has risen 30 percent since the beginning of the year — more than other major indexes around the world.

In the United States, the S&P 500 index has jumped more than 20 percent since bottoming out in April, but is up only 6 percent this year.

Analysts attribute the rise of South Korea’s market mostly to the restoration of a unified government that has promised to pass investor-friendly reforms. Call it the Lee Jae Myung bump, after the head of state elected last month.

“The market is responding in Korea because there is a new president in place after the martial law declaration,” said Tom Ramage, an economic policy analyst with the Korea Economic Institute of America, a think tank backed by the South Korean government. “People were really looking for some kind of stability.”