Insight: The coronavirus domino effect: S.Korean tech firms reel as Vietnam links curbed

Containers at Hai Phong port, Vietnam in 2018. South Korean firms are the biggest foreign investors in Vietnam, with over 4,000 operating in the country. — Reuters

SEOUL: For one South Korean multinational company that makes smartphone components used by Apple Inc and LG Electronics Inc, the coronavirus epidemic is dealing blow after blow.

First, the initial outbreak forced its China factory to shut down for almost three weeks and caused supplies from China for its Vietnam plant to begin to dry up. Then when the virus spread to South Korea, travel restrictions prevented its workers from keeping an expansion at the plant, located in the port city of Hai Phong, on track.