SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japanese car sale in South Korea more than halved in the first month of this year amid an ongoing campaign to boycott Japanese products, industry data showed Wednesday.
The number of Japanese vehicles sold here was 1,320 in January, down 64.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
The Japanese brand sale continued to fall in double figures since the trade dispute between Seoul and Tokyo started in July last year.
Japan tightened control in July over its export to South Korea of three materials, vital to manufacture memory chips and display panels that are the mainstay of the South Korean export.
In August, Japan dropped South Korea off its whitelist of trusted trading partners that are given preferential export treatment. In response, Seoul removed Tokyo from its whitelist of trusted export partners.
South Korea believed that Japan's export curb came in protest of the South Korean top court's ruling that ordered some of Japanese companies to pay reparation to the South Korean victims who were forced into hard labor without pay during the 1910-45 Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
In the first half of last year, Japanese vehicle sale increased more than 10 percent, but it tumbled 45 percent during the second half.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign luxury cars sold here was 17,640 in January, down 3.1 percent from a year earlier.
The number of Japanese vehicles sold here was 1,320 in January, down 64.8 percent from a year earlier, according to the Korea Automobile Importers & Distributors Association (KAIDA).
The Japanese brand sale continued to fall in double figures since the trade dispute between Seoul and Tokyo started in July last year.
Japan tightened control in July over its export to South Korea of three materials, vital to manufacture memory chips and display panels that are the mainstay of the South Korean export.
In August, Japan dropped South Korea off its whitelist of trusted trading partners that are given preferential export treatment. In response, Seoul removed Tokyo from its whitelist of trusted export partners.
South Korea believed that Japan's export curb came in protest of the South Korean top court's ruling that ordered some of Japanese companies to pay reparation to the South Korean victims who were forced into hard labor without pay during the 1910-45 Japanese colonization of the Korean Peninsula.
In the first half of last year, Japanese vehicle sale increased more than 10 percent, but it tumbled 45 percent during the second half.
Meanwhile, the number of foreign luxury cars sold here was 17,640 in January, down 3.1 percent from a year earlier.
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