Honda, Mazda, Fuji Heavy suspended business travel to South Korea

Bloomberg - Honda Motor Co., Mazda Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. suspended business travel to South Korea, pleading tension after North Korea fired its southern neighbor.

“We halted business trips to the country for today,” said Keitaro Yamamoto, a Tokyo-based spokesman at Honda. “We will closely watch the situation and decide what we are going to do from tomorrow.” Honda has an office in South Korea, and two employees are working there, he said.

North Korea shelled yesterday the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong near the disputed border between the two countries, killing two soldiers and setting houses burning in the worst attack on its neighbor in at least eight months. Mazda also suspended business trip to Korea awaiting the political situation stabilizes, said Sho Aoyama, a company spokesman.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co., Japan's largest and third-largest carmakers, said they haven't suspended travel. Toyota is complying with Japan's foreign ministry's safety alert calling for caution and will carry on a close watch on the situation, said Shiori Hashimoto, a Tokyo-based company spokeswoman.

Nissan sells cars in South Korea and hasn't seen any impact from the attack, said Mitsuru Yonekawa, a Yokohama-based spokesman for the carmaker.