Trading on South Korea's main and secondary markets was halted Friday morning just minutes after opening as stock prices plunged over eight percent from the previous day. 

As of 9:04 a.m., the tech-heavy KOSDAQ market tumbled eight-point-31 percent to 516-point-63, prompting a circuit breaker.

The Korea Exchange said that trading on the secondary market will be halted for 20 minutes as prices fluctuated over eight percent compared to the previous close for over a minute.

The last time a circuit breaker was put in place for the KOSDAQ market was February 12 in 2016, when the market crumbled due to the global economic slowdown and concerns about North Korea risks. 

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index(KOSPI) also plunged more than eight percent from the previous close to one-thousand-685-point-91 as of 9:04 a.m., leading to a five-minute sidecar.