The boycott is a response to an escalating trade dispute rooted in South Korea and Japan's bitter past, and it's one that could have global implications for the tech industry. A South Korean court last year ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to Korean victims of forced labour in munitions factories during World War II, but Japan maintains that the issue was long ago resolved in a controversial 1965 treaty. In response, Japan put export controls on chemicals vital to South Korea's semiconductor industry, and both countries stripped each other of preferential trading status. "The decision was based on their anger, their frustration with the Korean Supreme Court's decision on forced labour," said Lee Jae-hyon, an analyst with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies. But he said efforts to exert political pressure were counterproductive. "It doesn't really make sense. I mean, if the issue was still in the political area, then maybe the Korean Government can do something … but the executive cannot do anything about it. "If we did, that means that the South Korean Government is undermining the independence of the Supreme Court."
Erin Handley, 'South Koreans are rejecting Japanese beers and cars — here's why', ABC
