Japan Launched " Against South Korea; Trade War " Han Guochao 50 Thousand Merchants Took Off Japanese Goods.

According to China News Network reported on July 17th, recently, Japan's export of semiconductor materials to South Korea to strengthen censorship and control, triggering trade disputes between the two countries, this friction continues to ferment.

To this end, the Korean people's resentment against Japan has increased, and many shopping malls and supermarkets have launched a boycott of Japanese goods.

Affected by the incident, sales of Japanese parity clothing brands UNIQLO and Muji brands also dropped sharply.

Korean people boycotted Japanese goods, UNIQLO and Muji cried.

South Korean public opinion points out that the Anti Japanese sentiment of the people is particularly serious. South Korea's small and medium sized Association of general friendship 16 said that since the Association announced the ban on sale of Japanese goods in July 5th, more than 3500 small businesses have joined the boycott. If the boycott continues, more than 5 stores will join this weekend.

Hong Chunhao, policy director of the small and medium self employed Association, pointed out that in the first week of July, the sales of stores decreased by 3% over the same period last year. But recently, the public has also supported the boycott of the Japanese goods movement, and the sales of various stores have been on the rise.

"A week ago, we did not sell Japanese tobacco, Japanese wine and all Japanese food," said the 45 year old boss of a small supermarket. I posted a notice on the shelf: "this supermarket does not sell Japanese products!" The guest did not ask, "why not sell Japanese goods?" Instead, they encouraged me to make decisions.

The sale of beer in Japan is reduced by 24.6% from 1 to 14 this month. On the contrary, sales of Korean made beer in China increased by 6.9% over last month. Meanwhile, after most people launched the boycott of Japanese goods online, sales of Japanese parity clothing brands UNIQLO and Muji brands also decreased by 26.2% and 19.2% respectively.

In addition, the booking rate of Japanese travel items in HANATOUR, the first ranking travel industry in Korea, has also dropped significantly. "We can receive more than 1100 Japanese travel reservations a day, and after July 8th, the average daily booking volume has dropped to 600 to 700," said the official of the harondor travel agency.

Zhang Zhengxu, a professor at Matsuyama University in Japan, said that there are many foreign tourists in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, so even if Koreans do not go to Japan, they will not be affected. However, the proportion of Korean tourists in other small cities in Japan accounts for about 30%, and the reduction of tourists to Japan will cause a certain blow to the economy of small cities in Japan. "Although the campaign of not going to Japan will not cause a great blow to the Andouble administration, the movement itself has symbolic significance."

South Korean public opinion points out that the Korean people launched a boycott of Japanese goods in 2013 because of the sovereignty over the Dokdo Islands (Japan and South Korea dispute islands, and Japan called Bamboo Island). In the past, the boycott of Japanese goods was mainly related to Dokdo or historical issues. But this time, Japan announced that trade sanctions against South Korea were related to the survival of the national economy, and the Anti Japanese sentiment of the people was particularly serious.

The rise of boycott Japanese goods in South Korea

In July 1st, a petition was made in the national petition notice column of the Chong Wa Dae to petition the government for retaliation against Japan's economic sanctions and ask Japan to recognize the mistakes made during the colonial period. As of 21:00 today, 32884 people were invited to participate in the petition.

　　 Chong Wa Dae official website screenshot

"NO. BOYCOTT JAPAN. boycott Japanese goods, not Japanese goods" boycott Japanese products posters widely spread on social networking sites, and there is also a topic of "keyword boycott campaign against Japanese goods" as the key word. Under the news of Japan's retaliatory measures, netizens wrote down messages like "do not use Japanese products for the time being".

　　 In July 3rd, in a network forum, a post entitled "taking part in boycott Japanese goods campaign" was named "best post". The post listed the names of Japanese brands in detail, including Desanto, UNIQLO, ABC mart, Japanese brands such as Asahi, Kirin and Sapporo, as well as Japanese, TOYOTA, Lexus, Honda and other Japanese brands, SONY, Panasonic, Canon and other electronic products brands.

　　 According to the Korea Central Daily report, UNIQLO officials remain silent about this, saying only that "we can not comment now". UNIQLO's sales in South Korea last year were as high as 1 trillion and 370 billion won, and South Korea's sales ranked first among the various countries. Although current sales have not been affected, the brand image of UNIQLO will inevitably be hit if the two countries' contradictions persist for a long time.

The reaction of other enterprises is similar. Japanese media said that many South Koreans dissatisfied with the Japanese government's transfer to Japanese products and culture. Although the impact may be limited to the present stage, it is temporary, but most Japanese companies are uneasy about it.

The retail industry began to organically ban the sale of Japanese products.

In July 5th, the Korean people held a protest rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Korea, demanding that the Japanese government withdraw its export control on the Korean semiconductor industry and apologize for the forced labor issue in World War II.

　　 Koreans stepped in boxes to protest (Japanese TBS TV)

The Korea Market Association held a meeting near the Japanese Embassy in South Korea, announcing the discontinuation of trafficking in Japanese goods. At the scene, the association staff trampled the carton with the logo of Japanese enterprises and broadcast the picture to South Korea. Korean media said about 230 stores were involved in boycotting Japanese goods, including at least 100 thousand people, including convenience stores.

At the rally, about 20 people shouted "condemn every time the support rate goes down and suppress the Andouble administration in Korea". They opposed Japan's efforts to tighten export controls on the Korean semiconductor industry. Protesters also appealed to passers-by for boycott of Japanese goods.

　　 Protesters are calling for boycott of Japanese goods in the streets.

On the 6 day, a notice was posted on a supermarket store in the residential street of Yangchuan District, Seoul. It said, "no Japanese goods are sold". Japanese made seasonings, convenience foods and so on were not found. 4 cans of 10 thousand won (60 yuan) Sapporo beer was originally a hot commodity, but the supermarket manager said: "for the country, decided not to sell. Sales will be reduced, but I will continue to do so before Japan withdraws its trade retaliation.

　　 Supermarket entrance: "stop selling goods that do not reflect on history"

According to Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" 7 reported that recently, in some parts of Seoul, South Korea, Sapporo beer and other commodities from Japan have all shelves. On social media, many Korean netizens urged Koreans not to travel to Japan.

Will "boycott Japanese goods" change Japan's attitude?

Although the Korean people's "boycott of Japanese goods movement" has become more and more powerful, some Japanese enterprises in South Korea have not been hit too much by the current movement.

Asahi Beer, considered as one of the "war criminals", and Japanese beer such as Sapporo and Kirin, is one of the key targets of the boycott of Japanese goods. However, according to industry sources, on the 7 day, in the past three or four days in the beginning of Japanese economic retaliation, the sales of beer in major convenience stores in Korea remained unchanged.

For example, according to the sales situation of convenience store CU, the sales volume of imported beer in the whole state increased by 1%, while that of Japanese beer decreased by 1%. Over the same period, Japanese beer sales increased by 1.2%, while Japanese beer sales fell by 1.9%. The sales volume of Japanese beer has declined, but it is widely accepted in the industry that this will not cause too much impact.

　　 A supermarket in Seoul announced that it would no longer sell Japanese goods.

According to Lianhe Zaobao reported that even if the Korean Internet also appeared to appeal to boycott purchases of Japanese goods and travel to Japan, the ROK data still show that between 1 and May this year, the number of Japanese tourists to Korea increased by 28% over the same period last year, to 1 million 370 thousand.

For South Korea's boycott of Japanese goods, Mimura Akio, director of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and industry (July 4th), told Japanese reporters that the policy of strengthening Japan's restrictions should not be overemphasized.

The economic frictions between the two countries need to be reconciled by the government.

　　 Pictures from Yonhap

For the boycott of the Japanese goods movement launched by the Korean people, Xu Yongqiu, Professor of Management Department of Sookmyung Women's University, said: "the economic relationship between Korea and Japan is very close, and the geographical location is close. It is impossible for people not to go to Japan or to buy Japanese goods all the time. This impulse response is of no great significance". "We should look at this incident from a long-term perspective."

According to Yonhap news, the president of the Republic of Korea said he would talk with leading enterprises in Korea about 10 days to discuss measures to deal with Japan's restrictions on the export of key semiconductor materials. The report said it would be the first dialogue between Wen and leaders of the financial circles in Korea half a year ago. He will exchange views with South Korean business representatives to discuss the plan to deal with the impact. Earlier, the Korean economic community has appealed to "let politics pass the economy".