Park Jae-hyuk is a seasoned journalist who has provided comprehensive coverage of South Korea's corporate dynamics, economic policies, industry challenges and the global positioning of Korean companies. Based on the articles he has written since joining The Korea Times in 2016, his investigative approach has helped readers understand corporate governance, economic trends and business strategies shaping South Korea’s economy.
Lotte siblings likely to meet again
By Park Jae-hyuk
Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin will likely meet his older brother Shin Dong-joo this month, seeking to end their two-year long dispute over control of the country’s fifth-largest conglomerate, industry sources said Wednesday.
Given that the older Shin recently broke up with his counselors led by former Korea Development Bank governor Min Yoo-sung, who encouraged Shin to continue the struggle, observers expect the siblings will try hard to resolve their prolonged conflict this time.
Accepting their mother Hatsuko Shigemitsu’s recommendation, the two Shins already met in June at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul for the first time after they started their rivalry in 2015. However, they failed to reach a reconciliation at that time.
The upcoming meeting was arranged by their cousin Shin Dong-woo, executive director of the Japanese noodle maker Sansasu Shoji. Shin Dong-woo is the oldest son of Sansasu Shoji CEO Shin Sun-ho, a younger brother of Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho.
The cousins reportedly had close relations with each other when they lived in Japan in their early days. Shin Dong-woo has purportedly worked hard for the earlier meeting between his cousins as well.
“I’ve been arranging the schedule for the meeting in September,” the executive director was quoted as saying. “The previous meeting was finished in 10 minutes, as it was their first meeting in two years, but I’m sure the upcoming meeting will be different.”
Although Lotte refused to confirm the schedule for the meeting, the company said the chairman has wanted to reconcile with his brother, who is the chairman of SDJ Corp. and the former vice chairman of Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings.
Shin Dong-joo, who has continued aggressive measures against his younger brother, recently dismissed his attorneys, after losing a series of lawsuits against Lotte and failing to stop the shareholders’ approval of the group’s plan to establish a holding firm.
The older brother reportedly hired new lawyers from the nation’s seventh-largest law firm Barun, as well as former and incumbent high-ranking government officials.
Industry officials said Shin Dong-joo has practically lost in the competition against Shin Dong-bin.
But still, Lotte is facing setbacks inside and outside of Korea, including the prosecutors’ investigations, trials over the chairman’s alleged corruption and China’s economic retaliation against Lotte for its part in providing the land for a U.S. anti-missile system.