A major civic group dedicated to protecting mom - and - pop stores with some 6 million members and dozens of other civic groups here vowed on Monday to boycott all Japanese - made products in protest of Tokyo ’ s latest territorial claims to Dokdo . The groups said they would boycott Japanese goods such as Mild Seven cigarettes , Asahi beer , Nikon cameras , Uniqlo clothes , Sony electronics , Toyota , Lexus and Honda cars , starting March 1 . There have been anti - Japan boycotts led by civic groups in the past , but this is the largest in history . Members of the boycotting groups are people who sell Japanese products in their restaurants , bars , supermarkets and other retail outlets , and they are estimated to handle about 80 percent of the Japanese goods traded in Korea . They are set to put boycott stickers on all of their stores from this week and encourage their customers to join the campaign . These groups last year succeeded in lowering the credit card commission rates for shopkeepers through boycott campaigns against Samsung Card and Shinhan Card . They also made large discount store chains close on holidays . “ Six million self - employed people will do whatever we can to protect Dokdo , ” said Oh Ho - seok , co - representative of the self - employed group . “ We decided to boycott Japanese products starting on the March 1 Independence Movement Day until Tokyo regrets its past wrongdoings and put an end to its wrongful claims on Dokdo . ” Regarding concerns that the campaign might stir trade conflict between Korea and Japan , Oh said it won ’ t be a problem since it is a voluntary action by individuals , and not the Korean government . By Kim So - hyun ( sophie @ heraldcorp . com ) [ Hot News ] ◆ Park takes helm ◆ Economic democratization overshadows inauguration ◆ Welfare , public safety focus of Park ’ s agenda ◆ Where have we seen it before ? ◆ British teen dies in fall from ski lift