Tue, Feb 25, 2020 page10

• Virus Outbreak: Some Samsung, Hyundai workers self-quarantine

  ‘WALKING ON ICE’: About 1,500 workers at a Samsung phone factory and six at a Hyundai plant have taken leave, sparking concern over supply chain disruptions

  • Reuters, SEOUL
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  Some South Korean workers at Samsung Electronics Co and Hyundai Motor Co are staying home as a precautionary measure, as corporate Korea scrambles to prevent the COVID-19 outbreak from disrupting its home market.

  About 1,500 workers of Samsung’s phone complex in the southeastern city of Gumi have self-quarantined, after one of its workers was infected with the disease, a person familiar with the matter said.

  They include 900 workers who commute to Gumi from neighboring Daegu City, the person said.

  

  A woman wearing a mask is reflected in the mirrors in Seoul yesterday.

  Photo: Reuters

  Daegu is the epicenter of the virus outbreak in South Korea.

  South Korea has said that its fragile economic recovery is under threat from the outbreak, which has spread dramatically across the nation over the past week, and pledged action to minimize the fallout.

  The won yesterday fell 0.9 percent to a six-month low, while the KOSPI sank almost 4 percent.

  The nation yesterday reported 231 new cases of the virus, bringing the total number of infected patients to 833.

  While most of the new cases were traced to the southeastern city of Daegu, almost all major cities and provinces reported some infections.

  Daegu and other southeastern parts of the nation are an industrial hub in South Korea, Asia’s fourth-biggest economy, and home to factories of Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor and a number of others.

  Samsung said it has restarted production at its phone factory in Gumi, after closing it over the weekend, adding that the floor where the infected employee worked are to resume production today.

  “As of 1pm KT [4am GMT] Feb. 24, the Gumi Complex has started normal operations and we expect no impact on production,” Samsung said in a statement, without elaborating further.

  Samsung’s Gumi factory accounts for a small portion of its total phone production, but it produces premium phones and foldable phones, research firm Counterpoint said.

  Six employees at Hyundai Motor’s factories in the southeastern city of Ulsan are also at home, with four of them linked to a church at the center of the virus outbreak in Daegu, a union spokesman said in a statement.

  “We are walking on ice,” one Hyundai factory worker said.

  Another person visited a supplier, which was closed after one case was confirmed.

  An official at the Hyundai supplier, Seojin Industrial Co, said health authorities disinfected the factory over the weekend, and it is unclear when production would resume.

  Ulsan is home to Hyundai’s biggest vehicle factory, and there are a number of suppliers in the city and surrounding areas, which cater not only to the automaker, but exports to the US, Japan and other markets.

  A Hyundai spokesperson said there has been no production disruption so far, as it has an inventory.

  It has advised employees to refrain from traveling to Ulsan and suppliers in the southeastern area.

  It has set up thermal cameras at all of its operations across the nation, including its headquarters in Seoul, and checks temperatures. Hyundai also delayed job interviews for entry-level workers starting yesterday.

  LG Electronics Co said its lab in the city of Incheon, close to Seoul, was closed until yesterday after one of its employees there was infected with the virus.

  “We’ve been worried about disruptions in the tech supply chain that are causing delays in importing parts from China,” Korea Institute for Industrial Economics & Trade researcher Lee Hang-koo said. “But the problem is getting serious as infections are soaring near the Gumi Industrial Park, a home-ground of plants producing core parts of electronics devices.”

  “Companies have shifted most of their production to China and Vietnam for cost cutting, but still high-tech electronic parts are produced at home because of concerns about leaks in core technology,” Lee added.

  Additional reporting by Bloomberg and AP
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