By Nam Hyun-woo
Japan's move to tighten the rules for exports of key industrial materials to Korea is triggering a consumer boycott of Japanese products, raising concerns for Toyota, Honda, Uniqlo and other Japanese companies operating here, according to industry officials, Wednesday.
The companies said they have yet to experience the fallout from Japan's apparent retaliation on last year's Supreme Court rulings here against Japanese firms over wartime forced labor. But they added they are in an "awkward situation" and paying attention to fast-spreading social media campaigns calling for boycotts.
A petition on Cheong Wa Dae's website urging the government to come up with retaliatory measures to Japan's export curb and for the public to boycott Japanese products had 5,445 signatories as of 11 p.m., Wednesday, just two days after it was posted.
Also, a list of Japanese companies is going viral on Kakao Talk's messenger and other social media platforms, with the poster urging users to join a boycott. The list includes Descente, Uniqlo, Daiso, Kirin and Panasonic.
As the campaigns pick up momentum, customers are expressing their intent to join.
"As a big fan of Japanese beer, I used to enjoy drinking a can of Asahi or Kirin after work," said Kim Yun-su, 32, an office worker in Gyeonggi Province. "But after the news over Japan's retaliation and social media campaigns, I will choose other beers. That may not be a big difference, but I just wanted to express that Koreans have to do something."
An official at FRL Korea, the operator of Uniqlo in Korea, said it was difficult for the company to collect data on whether the boycott has affected sales.
Anti-Japan sentiment is spreading not only for commodity brands but also automobiles.
On Bobaedream, an online motorists forum, internet users are staging a heated debate on whether they should buy Toyota or Honda cars, saying those firms have posted handsome sales in recent months in Korea, but Tokyo is paying this back with trade retaliation.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, Honda sold 5,684 vehicles in the first half of this year, up a whopping 94.4 percent from a year earlier.
Toyota's luxury brand Lexus sold 8,372 vehicles in the first half, up 33.4 percent from 6,276 a year earlier.
Overall, Japanese carmakers sold 23,482 cars here in the first half, up 10.3 percent from 2018. Their share among import brands also increased to 21.5 percent from 15.2 during the same period.
"We have not seen a tangible impact on our sales yet," a Honda Korea official said. "However, we are closely watching customer sentiment online."
"For Japanese firms, the situation is awkward, especially when their sales in Korea are booming," a an import company official said asking not to be named. "Japanese brands in Korea have always been exposed to these kinds of risks due to the two country's history and diplomatic issues, but there's nothing they can do about it."
"Individual customers' voices are unlikely to affect those companies' sales heavily in the short term. However, movements on social network services often go viral quickly and sometimes become a boycott that is beyond each company's control," another official said. "Thus, firms are watching online movements closely, even though they don't speak out about that."
Japan's move to tighten the rules for exports of key industrial materials to Korea is triggering a consumer boycott of Japanese products, raising concerns for Toyota, Honda, Uniqlo and other Japanese companies operating here, according to industry officials, Wednesday.
The companies said they have yet to experience the fallout from Japan's apparent retaliation on last year's Supreme Court rulings here against Japanese firms over wartime forced labor. But they added they are in an "awkward situation" and paying attention to fast-spreading social media campaigns calling for boycotts.
A petition on Cheong Wa Dae's website urging the government to come up with retaliatory measures to Japan's export curb and for the public to boycott Japanese products had 5,445 signatories as of 11 p.m., Wednesday, just two days after it was posted.
Also, a list of Japanese companies is going viral on Kakao Talk's messenger and other social media platforms, with the poster urging users to join a boycott. The list includes Descente, Uniqlo, Daiso, Kirin and Panasonic.
As the campaigns pick up momentum, customers are expressing their intent to join.
"As a big fan of Japanese beer, I used to enjoy drinking a can of Asahi or Kirin after work," said Kim Yun-su, 32, an office worker in Gyeonggi Province. "But after the news over Japan's retaliation and social media campaigns, I will choose other beers. That may not be a big difference, but I just wanted to express that Koreans have to do something."
An official at FRL Korea, the operator of Uniqlo in Korea, said it was difficult for the company to collect data on whether the boycott has affected sales.
 |
| Honda Korea CEO Lee Ji-hong |
On Bobaedream, an online motorists forum, internet users are staging a heated debate on whether they should buy Toyota or Honda cars, saying those firms have posted handsome sales in recent months in Korea, but Tokyo is paying this back with trade retaliation.
According to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association, Honda sold 5,684 vehicles in the first half of this year, up a whopping 94.4 percent from a year earlier.
Toyota's luxury brand Lexus sold 8,372 vehicles in the first half, up 33.4 percent from 6,276 a year earlier.
Overall, Japanese carmakers sold 23,482 cars here in the first half, up 10.3 percent from 2018. Their share among import brands also increased to 21.5 percent from 15.2 during the same period.
"We have not seen a tangible impact on our sales yet," a Honda Korea official said. "However, we are closely watching customer sentiment online."
 |
| Toyota Korea CEO Nobuyuki Takemura |
"Individual customers' voices are unlikely to affect those companies' sales heavily in the short term. However, movements on social network services often go viral quickly and sometimes become a boycott that is beyond each company's control," another official said. "Thus, firms are watching online movements closely, even though they don't speak out about that."
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