SEOUL—South Korea had the world’s hottest stock market for most of the past year, powered by the artificial intelligence boom. Then it crashed.  Yoon Jae-Yi , a 30-year-old English teacher, lost $19,000. She has since cut her living expenses—fewer taxi rides, less travel. Skipping meals, she tells herself, doubles as a diet. South Korea, which introduced Squid Game and K-Pop, now hosts the world’s craziest stock market, showcasing a stomach-churning volatility not seen in major markets in years. The benchmark Kospi index more than tripled in value, driven by faith in the AI boom. Two South Korean companies, memory-chip makers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix…

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