Decades of animosity between North Korea and its neighbors to the south have left the Korean peninsula in a perpetual state of cold war. However new developments from the region could bring South Korea's burgeoning auto industry into play in a bid to make peace between the countries. According to reports emerging from Seoul and Pyongyang, negotiations are currently under way to transfer Hyundai – which has emerged as one of the world's largest automakers and industrial conglomerates – from South Korea to the North.

Although the fate of Hyundai's Kia division remains uncertain – with the lower-cost brand speculated to remain in South Korean hands – proposals to hand the communist dictatorship control of SsangYong, GM's Daewoo subsidiary or Renault's Samsung joint venture reportedly failed to bring North Korea to the negotiating table. Should Pyongyang accept the Hyundai offer, however, the resulting peace accord would reportedly see both sides disarm the Demilitarized Zone that forms their border and North Korea begin dismantling its makeshift nuclear arsenal.