Invisible Barrier Newsweek

~·[email protected]:m&ill\\:@m~~~WB BUS IN E S S,:<\<.·j·· I. '. •. 1 .~ ';; ": Invisible Barrier This culture was built on nngcr. After decades of Japanese occupation ended with Japan's defeat in World War II, South Korea . set out to win a respectable place in the world. "Nation building through exports," the rallying cry of President Park Chung Hee in the early 19605, was emblazoned on factory walls nll over the country. Luxury- import buyers were publicly denounced as traitors. Unti] the 19RO~. smoking forcig» cigarettes was 1\ crime punislt:tblc by jail, Dut no luxury itcm had morc power as n 11:1' triotic symbol than tll~ car, That's still true. The Buy Korean cnm- paign tapped into n deep Confucian bins against displays of wealth. During the 1997 hsinn financia! crisis. officials in Seoul loudly blamed their currency's plunge on profligate Koreans' buying foreign goods. The real problem was that the country's consumers were scared to buy anything. Dut TV news reports on the crisis routinely showed footage of foreign- car salcsroorns anyway. Citizen vigilantes took up the cause, slashing tires and scratching paint jobs on foreign cars left unattended in Seoul. "I hcarc so much about harnssrncnt of import cars or their ur:ycrs:' so.ys 0. 41-yco.r-ol\l restaurant owner who uses only secure ll:ly lots to park her blue BMW. "I actually r.esit:ltcll buying this car becauseof that" The harassment decreased as the econo- my recovered, but the resentment still lingers. An import dealer says he doesn't :II· low TV crews in his showroom it' UIC), arc from the city desk of a bigSeou\ network, be- cause he knows the footage will be used to bash roreign-car buyers, who arc abused . ~-;;.::.:. ... , enough. In a recentsurveyof200clomcslic . ~. -. i· ~ "~.', luxury-car owners, 70 percent said buying . l\l\tj ~.~__._.. . .~) im~orts would lead to grea:er."social dis- • .. .".t..... ... ;,., ~.,.~: II panty," n~d nearly half aVOId Imports for ~ fmot'd,rtr.l?oh" from f,nowKo,."os. ,__, 1'hat hostility IS about more than cars, . .. It's about economic class and corruption, ..... '. '. "., .;: ,." ..••......•...•...•.... , ".\'." ...• '.< .'.. ".. ~'!"i:;:"'~:r: •. J,.,,···'LI':'1'.'·'~,~'·.I"r.. !1\~{.. ~. rt;;J,.'f;, < .. I·t··,,···,,··,,·· . . "'~:" . ·L- ..;-,.·: .• ·.'f~:-A:·"I'."I ... ".f;<' .. J.W.,.. I (ft:';., ~ ":;:' .;';~~:~hl( .i,.:· .;,. ,:, I. '•• ~'!:.. !~..;.... (' :·i.:. .'J-·;'i.:~.i:.:r·:.. ,' \ -"',l .;.;!.f~~~:' /i:.c:iJ\ ,,~lrJ:~ '.;~:(jLj:·~.~,p e ~ ! ")~'~I'~ •......•... f'~:,' (I •• ,.(~.". • ",.: rr " i.":>' :'/""""" ' .• l.l't"'K 1ji(~f; . ", ~('.~. '.. • • . : ....•. ,fj,"'r',•.. u :'..:.; . .... ..,.,.' '. ".(. ';1': . (j el"""'r f'~"l1"'" ~.• ",.r(!~"I'." Ir~.. . ~{.t ~)~\:.~,'~~~~}~:j:\:, ..: .: ":'<;'11 .:".:;~ 1!1J r~;.1 ,::} ~ . ~ ,J) "' t'i~ ... ;- "····~:I·'''*lfr.;tt ~f\\<;!l:; I;)'" ~~!.\.i~ A1 ~~~~~l f;\;;~' II ~j'l w ~ ... t,~~i . •• ,*.).~'.' ~'.::: .•.':.~. ;':.--..'.1 ';~l~1 t·" '~fA (.:l~'~~;· • :~~ . ~~~\ . ~. §.~~l: "d~:'1 :!.••....•" r:•. ·~·..:<.. '.-.,. ::\t.i.;, i...," , .. !.;f.(',.". ' .. ~~1.. ~'n':' ...• :}i. 'I!j'.~ " ", ',' .•. :.l.: ~~.I'. ,:'. ,':'1.\ '._ •••. : '",,,,:,,1 :.. '.. I, •• ""1,, •.•... t~. 1~ •. j f\,..... ... " I" ;iC"'l •. :<, .... ~., .I•.•• ;.... -s.» ','" ~,,,,,'''''-.' .!.. ,.\ .l.)" ':'.,." ....•.. f."I@~~ ~<i'-.(iil~e~ ..:..1 .', .... " jf.-;.:. •. :£ir!..-t:~:.::t .:t·. . .. ". '.!''':' l,· .• ~ •• ~.' ••..... • •.• ., •..•., .•.. • • fly D. J. L££ I N POSH KANGNAM,/\'J'TlIE llUSTI.ING heart of Seoul, n lonely Forti denier makes nn odd pitch to shoppers who barely glance at his shop. Inside the nearly deserted showroom, a dlsplnyof flowers anti pink ribbons presents n green Lincoln LS as the car of choice for- movie stars? Footbnll players? No: govern- mcnt mlnlsters, SlItC.11lHIIl .Icon Kyeon~ Seob snys the Idea Is to convince consumers th~1 will no longer be punished fOI'buying foreign autos. The pitch Isn't working too well. This is Ford's main showroom in South Korea, and It has sold only about 100 cars so far this year. Why? "Patriotism," says Jeon, gazing out on a street filled with Korean cars made by Hyundal, Kla or Daewoo, "Koreans are patriotic people." . The supposedly inexorable force of glob- alization can't change that. After years of pressure from the Americans, Europeans and Japanese, South Korea has cut tarifls, On paper, South Korea's car market is wide open. So why don't imports sell? taxes, rules nnc1 regulations, becoming one of the most open CM markets in the world- on paper. Nevertheless, South Koreans al- 1110~tnever buy fhreih'" cars. The cornhincd mnrkcting might 01' the world's great car- makers persuaded South Koreans to buy 4,400 Imports Inst year-a mere 0-4 percent of the total market. Last week a visiting U.S. trnde delegation demanded even lower bar- riers. Local importers can only sigh. They say no edict from Seoul can undo decades of governrncnt, corporate and union exhorta- tions to huy Korean. "It is easy to change regulations and t1\'Xsystems," says Son Eul Rae, a Mercedes dealer who heads an auto- Importers association, "But changing a culture or a mind-set is not." I ·. n A." Buy Korean, or Be Scared .1'n'IOta~. t:.... ..' protll1etlhythCUnitcdStntcsantlEU- \U3 4~ rope, Scoul cutcar tarifls to S pcrcenthy ~ 1995-below Europe'slevelof10 per- U :. -"''/:- ~ cent. Burcustomers stlll fear social and official pressure to Duy Korean.As South Ko- ." 0 ~. rcan sales in 2000 showed, m~~-t\. '2.:n~O .~;~. foreignmakesnreg~tting •a~ ,.. ,"'" ~d~~It;~;~ clobbered by locals like ~ Hyundai. . 30

Invisible Barrier Newsweek

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