Who would have thought that the next Korean War could be fought in the halls of Walmart?
The other day there was a “split second” interruption in the electric power supply to a Toshiba Corp. computer chip factory in Japan’s Mie prefecture. According to the Wall Street Journal, that momentary blip could result in a 20% drop in shipment for the next two months of the chips vital to operation of smart phones, tablet PCs and digital music players.
Our electronic gadget marketers can get through the Christmas Rush OK with existing inventory, but after that? So what does this have to do with automobiles? A lot. Bear with me.
It turns out that Toshiba is merely the second largest producers of these electronic chips, with about a third of the market. Number One is Samsung Electronics Co. in South Korea.
The fact is most of South Korea’s industries are located close to the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel established in the 1953 armistice. North of that line are a bunch of North Korean crazies playing with matches. Matches like long-range missile tests, efforts to manufacture atomic bombs, torpedoing of a South Korean patrol vessel and, a couple of weeks ago, opening up artillery on a nearby South Korean island, many of the projectiles falling on civilian quarters.
My point is that South Korea has become a major supplier to America’s lust for the better life: my Samsung flat screen where these words are appearing as I type; the Samsung cellphone in my shirt pocket; the Samsung TV in the family room that my wife is watching at the moment, and the LG cellphone in her purse nearby.
Any interruption in the supply of such consumer items will create havoc across the US (as well as many other countries around the world). Wal-Mart, Costco, Best Buy and countless other Big Box merchants could be crippled. Empty container ships from Asia would be stacked up outside our harbors.
All it would take would be a few long-range artillery rounds, or a suicide bomber, directed at one or more of those South Korean factories. The target would be less South Korean than America. We are extremely vulnerable to this threat, which is why we all should be paying more attention to what is transpiring in the Korean peninsula, not that there’s much we can do about it, barring a drone strike or two, except wring our hands.
As to the automotive side, in only a few months Korean automaker Hyundai and its Kia division have advanced from seventh to sixth place in US vehicle sales. For the first eleven months of 2010, total Hyundai-Kia sales have amounted to 819,250 units, edging Nissan with 814,840 sales out of sixth place. Hyundai/Kia have executed a remarkable invasion of the US auto market, culminating with 10-year warranties after making almost unbelievable advances in quality and reliability, in only a few years rivaling the best of Japanese and American vehicle makers.
Imagine the consequences of a Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK)–aka as the Commies or better yet, the Loonies–long-range attack on Hyundai plants just across the DMZ in South Korea. Or what about blocking South Korea’s main export docks at Inchon, also close to the DMZ? American Hyundai customers would be panic-stricken over parts availability. Hyundai dealers would be thrown into turmoil. Giant cross-Pacific new-car ferries would be idled. And that’s all if no shooting war ensued.
You don’t care about Hyundai/Kia? Well, how about the investment by General Motors in Daewoo, another South Korean automaker, which supplies the Chevy-badged Aveo entry in the small car market to many more countries than just US and Canada. A couple of years ago Daewoo also was supplying Chevy-badged cars to China, though GM Communications did not respond to my clarifying query as to whether this continues.
So there’s a very delicate situation in North Korea, where “dear leader” Kim Jong II, who succeeded his father in the 1970s as dictator of the Marxist state, is now trying to pass the ruling baton on to his 27-year-old son. Reportedly the DPRK generals don’t like that. This is an unstable situation at best.
American and other nations’ diplomats are trying to persuade the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) to spay cooling liquids on the DPRK, but China fears its interference might make a bad situation worse. A civil war in North Korea would force millions of refugees across the Yalu River into China, and could even trigger DMZ armed crossing by either North or South Korean forces.
Unfortunately, there is no solution in sight. I would not like to be a Wal-Mart or Costco or Best Buy executive, nor a Hyundai or Kia dealer with such instant cutoff of supply possible.
And, oddly, none of the preening mass media seem to have stumbled onto this inconvenient truth.
