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| Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Shin Kyuk-ho, founder and honorary chairman of retail giant Lotte Group, died Sunday of a chronic illness at age 99.
Lotte said Shin died at 4:29 p.m. at Asan Medical Center in Seoul. The group said Shin was hospitalized in an intensive care unit Saturday and his condition deteriorated overnight.
Born in the southern port city of Ulsan in 1921, when the country was under Japanese colonial rule, Shin founded chewing gum maker Lotte in Tokyo in 1948, and eventually turned the company into the country's fifth-largest conglomerate encompassing food, retail, hotel and chemical affiliates.
The founder made a breakthrough in the group's business in the late 1960s. After Korea normalized diplomatic relations with Japan in 1965, Shin established Lotte Confectionary in 1967 here. He then gradually sought business expansion, making forays into other business areas such as chemicals, construction and retail.
The late Shin especially focused on investing in tourism businesses such as hotels, amusement parks and shopping malls due to his belief that "Korea which doesn't have natural resources on its soil could become a tourism powerhouse."
The construction of Lotte World Tower, the country's highest structure with a height of 555 meters, arose from his idea to build Korea's highest tower in Jamsil, southern Seoul in 1987 to offer tourists something other than royal palaces.
Though the founder built one of the largest business empires, Shin's later years were overshadowed by a feud between his two sons ― Dong-joo and Dong-bin ― over who would take control of the group.
The battle between the two brothers, who controlled the group's operations in Japan and Korea, respectively, tarnished the image of Lotte as well as its founder. Dong-bin officially became the successor to his father after defending a series of attempts by his elder brother to take the helm.
Shin was also sentenced to four years in prison in 2017 for embezzlement and breach of trust but avoided jail time as the court allowed him to remain free on health issues.
He was the last-surviving member of the first-generation of Korean entrepreneurs. With his death, all the founders of Korea's top businesses ― Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, Samsung Group founder Lee Byung-chul, LG Group founder Koo In-hwoi, and SK Group founder Chey Jong-gun ― have passed away.
Funeral ceremonies are scheduled for Jan. 22 at Asan Medical Center and Lotte Concert Hall in Lotte World Mall.
