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| Medical staff check the temperature of passengers at Nanjing South Railway station in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China, Jan. 27. EPA-Yonhap |
By Kim Yoo-chul
Major South Korean exporters, which operate manufacturing facilities in China, said Wednesday they have no plans to close plants there despite the increasing death toll from a novel coronavirus outbreak and the growing number of infections.
They said they've already restricted travel or sought to evacuate employees in an attempt to minimize their exposure and strongly warned company employees to avoid travel to China. According to companies which have manufacturing operations, there, they are "closely monitoring the current public health challenge."
An official at SK Global Chemical said its South Korean employees at a plant in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, had been evacuated with its Wuhan facility being run by Chinese workers. The company said it's been using "all options" to assess the medical condition of its evacuated employees.
"The coronavirus hasn't impacted our Wuhan factory's production schedule. Given the complex nature of petrochemical operations, we have to be very careful about closing the manufacturing plant, there. There are no imminent plans for closure," the official said.
Leading South Korean technology companies are actively responding with Samsung Electronics recommending its employees not to visit China until further notice.
"Samsung notified employees who visited Hubei Province and have symptoms of the virus to stay at home for a week," an official said, adding the company recently created a taskforce to respond to coronavirus issues if they arise. Samsung Electronics operates massive production facilities across mainland China.
Samsung technology affiliates, including Samsung SDI and Samsung Display, said they were "restricting travel for business to a critical travel" for employees. "We've strengthened quarantine measures at cafeterias and employee accommodation at our plants in China," a Samsung SDI official said.
SK hynix, which also operates sizable semiconductor factories there, also created a taskforce to deal with the coronavirus spread. The chipmaker said it had banned employees from traveling to Hubei Province.
"Masks and necessary medical kits have been distributed to employees at our semiconductor plants in Wuxi and Chongqing. We are applying all recommended health and hygiene practices to all aspects of the firm's factory operations," an SK hynix official said.
LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor Group, LG Display and LG Chem issued travel bans on employees' visits to China. "We ordered employees in China to return to Korea, immediately. Also, we've notified employees who've recently visited China to stay home until further notice," an official at LG Chem said.
The tech companies confirmed that they have measures in place to ensure that they can continue to meet "manufacturing obligations," stressing the coronavirus outbreak won't impact their production schedules.
"We will continue to operate plants in China to make sure the industry's supply chain functions well," said an official at Hyundai Motor.
As the virus has spread to more than 16 countries, killing at least 107 people and infecting more than 4,500, China's outsized role in the global economy has begun to have "ripple effects," according to economists and market analysts.
