A local resident holds a relay one-man protest in front of one of the Uniqlo stores in Daegu to protest the Shinzo Abe administration’s economic retaliation against South Korea. (Image via Business Korea)

South Korea Boycott Hitting Hard Sales of Japan’s Uniqlo

Kinanty Nadia Putri
Business & Industry
Retail & Food Services
Aug 10, 2019
2362
The worst diplomatic row between South Korea and Japan is now hitting sales of Japan’s clothing chain Uniqlo. Uniqlo has become the latest casualty in the country as South Korea is widening the boycott movement on Japanese goods.

The fashion retail is a high-profile Japanese brand within South Korea, with some 190 stores.

A spokeswoman of Uniqlo confirmed that the dispute which rooted in compensation for Korean forced laborers during Japan’s occupation has had an impact on the fast fashion retailing sales in South Korea.

The company also decided to close one of its stores in central Seoul recently but denied that the move was related to the public backlash against Japan’s visible products. The spokeswoman said the store closure was due to the expired property contract and it decided to renew it.

Japan was imposing export controls of high-tech components to South Korea which it depended on to make semiconductors and smartphone displays. Although Japan cited security concerns for the curbs, it has been seen as a retaliation for court decision last year ordering Japanese companies to compensate Koreans victim during Japan’s annexation in the peninsula.

South Korea was also removed from Japan’s favored trading partners list.

In support of the boycott, Korean celebrities have also encouraged their fans to ditch Japanese goods, as done by Lee Si-young. The actress showed her followers on Instagram when she was swapping her Japanese sports equipment with Korean products.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-japan-labourers-fast-retai/south-korea-boycott-hitting-sales-of-japans-uniqlo-company-says-idUSKCN1UY2X7

Uniqlo , Retail , Fashion , Business , Japan , SouthKorea , Sales , Trade , Diplomatic , Asia