[THE INVESTOR] Although plants of major South Korean firms such as Samsung, LG and SK experienced temporary halts in operations following a series of earthquakes that hit the peninsula on Sept. 12, there were no major production disruptions, they said.

A 5.1-magnitude tremor was detected at 7:44 p.m., followed by a record magnitude 5.8 earthquake that jolted most of South Korea at around 8:30 p.m.

Samsung Electronics’ plants in Giheung and Hwaseong of Gyeonggi Province, along with those of SK hynix in Icheon and Cheongju areas experienced automatic, temporary shutdowns in the wake of these quakes.

 

Samsung Electronics and SK hynix said the machinery was restarted following examinations.

“There were no notable production disruptions,” said one Samsung Electronics official, declining to be identified.

Production lines at the LG Display plant and the Samsung Electronics smartphone plant also stopped temporarily at Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province.

“The main production lines are running without disruption,” said the Samsung official. “We stopped the molding precision lines following the first quake, but restarted it almost immediately.”

LG Display said some of the lines that were affected by the quake stopped temporarily, but were restored soon.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)