South Korea's benchmark KOSPI opened lower on Friday morning... falling below the 2,000 mark for the first time in 7 months.
The KOSPI opened one-point-one-nine percent down at 1993-point-36 amid the ongoing trade conflict and geopolitical issues.
Korea's secondary stock index, the KOSDAQ, opened 10-and-quarter-points down on Friday morning at 612-point-01.
After Japan officially announced the removal of South Korea from its whitelist, the KOSPI dipped to the day's lowest at around 10:20 am, but recovered back over the 2000 mark about an hour later and was trading at 1997-point-67 as of 11:30am.