The reversal was not a verdict on the U.S. Federal Reserve. It was concentrated in a handful of memory and component names, and the broader market did not follow them.
The KOSPI ended 31.14 points, or 0.46 percent, up at 6,820.02. It had traded as low as 6,557.89 in the opening minutes, after a hawkish signal from the U.S. central bank and Friday's slide in New York technology and semiconductor shares.
The stocks that led the index down led it back. Samsung Electronics closed 1.2 percent higher at 260,000 won ($189.9). SK hynix gained 1.3 percent to 1,674,000 won ($1,222.4). Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 2.6 percent to 1,458,000 won ($1,064.7).
The same split appeared in Tokyo, where Kioxia and Fujikura both gained more than 3 percent while the Nikkei 225 closed slightly lower at 66,311.93. The composite index in Shanghai closed higher.
Neither of the two largest institutional buyer groups took part.
Foreign investors took 639.8 billion won ($467.2 million) out of the main board. That followed Friday's 1.7 trillion won ($1.24 billion) net sale, which dropped the index 1.8 percent. Domestic institutions sold a further 792.1 billion won ($578.4 million).
The recovery was narrow. Decliners outnumbered advancers 489 to 366, while the KOSPI 200, an index of the market's largest listed companies, rose 0.58 percent, more than the broader index.
The KOSDAQ did not follow. The junior board, dominated by smaller technology and biotechnology firms, fell 4.12 points, or 0.49 percent, to 834.29.
Money came out of the sectors that had been carrying the market through August. Doosan Enerbility dropped 6.5 percent to 82,500 won ($60.2). Hanwha Aerospace fell 4.8 percent to 1,102,000 won ($804.7). Both ranked among the day's heaviest large-cap losers.
The won firmed into the 1,370-per-dollar range.
The recovery was the work of a small number of very large stocks. More shares fell than rose on a day the index closed higher, and nothing in the session changed the interest rate picture that started the selling in New York.
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