Japanese carmakers suffer extended setback in South Korea from trade row

Seoul

Japanese automakers are suffering an extended slump in South Korea amid a protracted trade row between the two Asian neighbors and the coronavirus pandemic, industry sources said Sunday.

Honda Motor Co. suffered a sharp decline in its operating income to 1.98 billion won $1.64 million between April 2019 and March 2020, down from an operating income of 19.6 billion won a year earlier, according to its audit report. Its sales also plunged 23 percent to 363 billion won over the cited period.

Its vehicle sales here also sank by 73 percent in the first five months of the year from a year earlier to 1,323, South Korean News Agency (Yonhap) reported.

Nissan Motor Co. also decided to pull out from South Korea 16 years after its landing here amid an extended slump with weak sales caused by lingering anti-Japan sentiment and the new coronavirus outbreak.

Nissan and its premium brand Infiniti logged 38 per cent and 71 percent drops in sales, respectively, to 1,041 and 222 vehicles in the January-May period.

Toyota Motor Corp. and its luxury brand Lexus also were also stung by protracted slumps, with their vehicle sales dropping 57 per cent and 64 percent, respectively, in the first five months of the year compared to a year earlier, industry data showed.

Last July, Japan tightened regulations on exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials critical for the production of semiconductors and displays.

In August, Japan also removed South Korea from its list of countries given preferential treatment in trade procedures 

South Korea views the moves as retaliation against 2018 Supreme Court rulings here ordering Japanese firms to compensate South Korean victims of forced labor during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.