By Lee Kyoung Mi and Kim Minji
Seoul | July 28, 2019

Shim Seo-yoon, a college student in Seoul, has fallen into the habit of confirming a product's country of origin before purchase. She scans the barcode with a free smartphone app that detects if an item is Japanese by saying "It's a Japanese product" or "It's not a Japanese product." She buys something only after the app confirms that the product is not Japanese.

The heated trade row with Japan triggered by Tokyo's decision on July 4 to apply export curbs has fueled a growing boycott of Japanese goods in Korea.

Though the boycott started with Japanese groceries such as beer or spices, it rapidly expanded to finance, musical instruments, games, medicine and film distribution.

Social media users have also shared and consistently posted lists of Japanese products and even created logos for the anti-Japanese consumer campaign. Websites have also sprung up on finding substitutes for Japanese products, as well as a smartphone app used to verify if a product is from Japan.

The app's creator Park Jung-woo said, "I made the app not because of a biased historical consciousness, but to express anger over unfair damage."

"We utilized a very careful and difficult process to make a final decision on whether to list a company since we don't want any domestic companies to suffer damage because of us."



Different from previous boycotts led by consumers, the movement this time is also seeing participation by sellers despite the latter suffering losses.

Moreover, Koreans who canceled trips to Japan because of the boycott have received compensation in the form of domestic travel tickets or rice.

Despite the boycott's rapid spread nationwide, other voices are advising against emotional reactions to those using Japanese products or traveling to Japan, urging discretion since Korean companies doing business with Japan can be negatively affected.

The digital era has also fueled the rise of new and more varied forms of consumer movements in the country.

km137426@korea.kr