The country's finance minister said Friday that the financial authorities will map out measures to help the local stock market be less volatile amid the ongoing tech rout. In an economy-related meeting, Finance Minister Lee Hyoung-il said the U.S. midterm elections are an important watershed for the global economy, saying that overnight falls on Wall Street in the face of tighter regulations on AI-related sectors would deliver a blow to the global market. Lee said the Korean economy's fundamentals are more solid than ever before and vowed to respond to external uncertainties. Shortly after the opening bell, trading of the KOSPI-listed shares was suspended for 20 minutes, as the benchmark index plunged by more than 8 percent amid tech sell-offs.