A Korean War Could Cut Pipeline of Vital Technologies to the World

The future of LG Display Co. is rolling off a production line in Paju, a small city about 20 miles north of Seoul. There, the company has built the world’s premier manufacturing center for large panels using organic light-emitting diodes, an advanced technology that offers a better picture than a liquid crystal display. In late 2015 the LG Electronics Inc. affiliate announced plans to spend more than 10 trillion won ($8.9 billion) on OLED production in Paju. There’s just one problem: location. The plant is only a 15-minute drive from the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.

That proximity puts Paju’s 442,000 inhabitants and LG’s very expensive factory within easy range of Kim Jong Un’s artillery. “We of course get affected psychologically when more media reports hint there could be provocation by the North,” says Han Sung-hee, the city’s team leader for civil defense. Paju has 149 shelters equipped with gas masks, cooking facilities, and heating and cooling systems; the largest can accommodate 200 people. “They’re temporary shelters where people can hide for 24 to 48 hours,” Han says. They’re designed “for partial war, not an all-out war.”