Hyundai, Kia and Much of Korea on Vacation

Korea Times notes that the Korean vacation season is full swing.. July 29 to Aug. 4 is the peak time for the summer holidays.

According to research by the Korea Transport Institute, out of 3,964 families nationwide, 51.4 percent vacationing now.
Of the summer months from about June to August, why do people choose this specific time to get away from work? It goes without saying that the hot weather is a major factor. However, there is another big reason. Many manufacturing industries slow or in come cases close down completely down during this period.

The manufacturing business is so structured that for business to be streamlined such companies have to take vacation at the same to coordinate the assembly procedure.

I always go on vacation during the first week of August because of the assembly line, said Chun Ji-hye, an administrative worker for a Hyundai-Kia Motor subcontractor in Kwangju. She has worked for the company for three years and this year has been on holiday since Monday. Because Hyundai starts its holiday from July 31, the whole assembly line follows its schedule.

Hyundai, one of the country's biggest manufacturers, set the company's vacation schedule on the first week of August. It's kind of a tradition. It's hot so efficiency is quite low and replacing workers during the period doesn't work properly, so usually we go on holidays all at the same time, said a Hyundai worker. He also said the production deadline plays a role. "On the first week of August, we finish making cars to sell for summer vacation. It is a good time to rest," he added.


Hyundai and it's affiliate company Kia alone has 80,000 workers a3nd with its subcontractors, the number jumps to 520,000 and adding all the workers in the field will cover more than a million people vacationing. In cities like Ulsan, where most of the residents are related to Hyundai affiliates in some way, the whole city seems to be on vacation with 800,000 on holiday out of 1.1 million. Other shops near or related to the company area multiply the number causing a "vacation domino effect."