South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun is visiting China this week to examine sales and manufacturing status quo amid ongoing hostility towards Korean brands for the decision to install U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) antimissile battery in Korea, according to sources on Monday.

Chung, heir to the country’s second largest conglomerate, will tour Beijing Hyundai Motor Co. (BHMC), Hyundai Motor’s car producing and retailing subsidiary in China, and other manufacturing facilities.

Combined sales of Hyundai Motor Co. and sister company Kia Motors Corp. in China plummeted 52.2 percent on year to 72,032 units last month. Beijing has been encouraging consumer boycott against Korean brands in retaliation for Seoul’s decision to deploy the antimissile system citing its surveillance reach to the mainland China.

The Chinese market accounts for the largest share of the two Korean automakers’ global sales. China made up 23.5 percent of Hyundai Motor sales last year, and 21.5 percent of Kia Motors’.

Hyundai Motor also worries disruption to the plan of opening its fifth Chinese manufacturing base in Chongqing this year.

By Woo Je-yoon

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]