A S. Korean man protester is seen hitting Lexus, a Japanese-made car. (Image via BBC)

Japanese car sales suffer setbacks in S. Korea

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Automotive & Equipment
Oct 04, 2019
2518
Recorded last month, Japanese car sales in South Korea (S. Korea) freefell. The incident was a follow up to the trade friction saga between Japan and S. Korea over wartime crime. S. Korean court ruled the Japanese companies in S. Korea to compensate for forced wartime labor during the WWII era, which the Japanese believe that it had been solved in 1965 accord.

On Friday, the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA) reported that Toyota’s sales dropped by more than 60% compared to the 2018’s figure. Nissan and Honda also got the impact, both saw the sales dropped by more than 80%. The shares of Japanese vehicles also dropped by 10% from 16% in 2018 to 6% in the same month.

The incident happened despite S. Korean strong demand for foreign cars. The number of foreign cars imported in S. Korea rose by 17%.

S. Korea boycotted Japanese automotive products. This was a retaliatory action for the Japanese who decided to no longer export important chemicals for chips and screen display for smartphones and TVs since July.

Japan and S. Korea then blacklisted each other from the list of countries that get preferential trade treatment. Not only in trading, but also in the military. Japan and S. Korea reportedly terminated the military intelligence-sharing agreement. S. Korean tourists are also unwilling to visit Japan amid trade friction.

Source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20191004/p2g/00m/0bu/055000c

Business , Automotive , Asia , Japan , S.Korea , Boycott , Toyota , Nissan , Honda , Politics , Economy , Trade