Japanese car sales in South Korea dropped with the diplomatic crisis

Direct– Japanese car sales in South Korea declined last month, due to increasing trade tensions and a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

South Korea's auto sales to South Korea fell 32 percent in July from a year earlier, data from South Korea revealed on Monday.

Honda sales last month fell 34% year-over-year.

Japan imposed restrictions last month on exports of highly specialized products needed by South Korea to manufacture semiconductors and computer monitors

This decision was taken after a Seoul court decided to compensate Japanese Korean companies recruited to work in factories and mines during the colonial period of the Korean Peninsula between 1910 and 1945.

Last week, Japan decided to remove South Korea from the list of countries with a minimum of export restrictions (trusted trading partners). The resolution will be implemented on August 28th.

In addition, South Korea announced today its intention to improve its economic efficiency by planning to invest 7.8 trillion won (US $ 6.8 billion) in R & D with resources and equipment over the next seven years to reduce dependence on Japanese imports.