[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s antitrust watchdog plans to press charges against Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho for reporting incomplete or false information over his ownership of the conglomerate’s overseas subsidiaries, local news reported Aug. 24. According to local daily Dong-A Ilbo, the Fair Trade Commission is slated to hold a meeting to determine whether to indict Shin for the misleading reports. Under the country’s fair trade law, large companies with over 5 trillion won (US$4.46 billion

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s antitrust watchdog has slapped a fine of 500 million won (US$444,000) on Lotte Group(Chairman Shin Dong-bin) for false reporting of its affiliates’ shareholders. According to the Fair Trade Commission, 11 affiliates of the South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate, which includes Hotel Lotte, Lotte Logistics and Lotte Corporation, were hit by a combined 570 million won fine on May 27. Under the country’s fair trade law, companies with assets exceeding 5 trillion won a

[THE INVESTOR]  More than 5,700 employees left Samsung Group in the first half after its five affiliates -- Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-mechanics, Samsung Heavy Industries, Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T Corporation -- launched voluntary retirement schemes. According to their semi-annual reports released Thursday, the total number of employees at the five firms fell by around 10 percent, from 54,988 in December to 49,259 in June this year. By affiliate, Samsung SDI, which has recently sepa

More than 5,700 employees left Samsung Group in the first half after its five affiliates -- Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-mechanics, Samsung Heavy Industries, Samsung Engineering and Samsung C&T Corporation -- launched voluntary retirement schemes. According to their semi-annual reports released on Thursday, the number of total employees of the five firms has reduced around 10 percent from 54,988 in December to 49,259 in June, this year. By affiliate, Samsung SDI, which has recently separated its

[THE INVESTOR] South Korea’s large institutional investors plan to buy more nonperforming loans in a bid to find investment opportunities from European banks that need to offload loans to meet new regulatory requirements, according to source on Aug. 11. The National Pension Service, Korea Investment Corporation and Lotte Insurance are expected to allocate over 400 billion won (US$363 million) in a distressed real estate fund by Cerberus Capital Management. Among the three, the nation’s pension f

[THE INVESTOR] The origin of AmorePacific traces back to Suh Kyung-bae’s grandmother Yun Dok-jeong who came up with an idea of selling hair oil made of camellia oil in Gaeseong, in present day North Korea. Attracting upper class customers with the high-quality oil, Yun soon established a cosmetics shop, Changseong Store, in 1932 and expanded to other products, such as facial cream and powder. Learning from Yun’s entrepreneurship and business skills, Suh’s father Suh Sung-whan began to fully enga

The origin of AmorePacific traces back to Suh Kyung-bae’s grandmother Yun Dok-jeong who came up with an idea of selling hair oil made of camellia oil in Gaeseong, in present day North Korea. Attracting upper class customers with the high-quality oil, Yun soon established a cosmetics shop, Changseong Store, in 1932 and expanded to other products, such as facial cream and powder. Learning from Yun’s entrepreneurship and business skills, Suh’s father Suh Sung-whan began to fully engage in the busin

[THE INVESTOR] Prosecutors on Thursday morning arrested Shin Young-ja, the chairwoman of Lotte Foundation and older sister of Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, as they investigate allegations of her involvement in bribery and embezzlement. The Seoul Central Court issued the arrest warrant at around 2 a.m. on Thursday, and Shin was immediately taken into custody.She is the first member of the Shin family -- which rules over the Lotte empire in Korea and Japan -- to be officially arrested in pro

Prosecutors on Thursday morning arrested Shin Young-ja, the chairwoman of Lotte Foundation and older sister of Lotte Group chairman Shin Dong-bin, as they investigate allegations of her involvement in bribery and embezzlement. The Seoul Central Court issued the arrest warrant at around 2 a.m. on Thursday, and Shin was immediately taken into custody.She is the first member of the Shin family -- which rules over the Lotte empire in Korea and Japan -- to be officially arrested in prosecutors’ inves

With a history of 105 years, Woori Bank is the oldest among South Korea’s largest 500 companies by sales, according to CEO Score, a website devoted to monitoring local conglomerates.Among the 500, almost half were found to be more than 40 years old, while another 12 percent are over 60 years old. Combined, those aged 20 years or older accounted for 82 percent of the firms.Woori BankIn contrast, just 18 percent were “younger” companies aged 20 years or less. On average, the top 500 companies were

[THE INVESTOR] A local design firm has publicly accused the Lotte World Mall in Seoul for ripping off its design for their building on July 1. Local design house 2CM claims that the exterior design of the main entrance to the mall’s luxury stores Avenuel bears a close resemblance to their design concept called “Star Collection,” which was also published in a booklet by Architecture@Work, an international trade fair showcasing architectural designs and supplies. Lotte World Mall / The Investor“Th

Shin Young-ja, the chairwoman of Lotte Foundation and the eldest daughter of Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, appeared at the Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office on Friday morning as a bribery investigation involving the chairwoman continued to deepen in South Korea.Shin Young-ja is the eldest sister of Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin and SDJ Corporation chief Shin Dong-joo, who continue to wrestle for control over the group.She is the first person from Lotte’s founding family to be summoned by the

Whether Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho has dementia has become a hot button in the Lotte drama that involves his two sons fighting over who should succeed him in the 90-trillion won conglomerate. A source from Shin Dong-joo’s side -- the older brother ousted from the Lotte helm by his younger brother -- revealed to the media earlier this week that the 92-year-old father had been taking medicine for dementia since 2010. It was the first time in the Lotte Group’s prolonged family feud that the older b

 [THE INVESTOR] When Kim Li-na first heard about the prosecution’s probe into Lotte on the alleged creation of slush funds and embezzlement, she was anything but surprised.“At this point, I doubt anyone expected anything less from them,” she said. “After the whole fiasco last year, I think Lotte’s image has pretty much hit rock bottom.”She was referring to the mudslinging between the Lotte founder’s two sons Shin Dong-bin and Shin Dong-joo, who attacked each other publicly to gain controlling po

When Kim Li-na first heard about the prosecution’s probe into Lotte on the alleged creation of slush fund and embezzlement, she was anything but surprised.“At this point, I doubt anyone expected anything less from them,” she said. “After the whole fiasco last year, I think Lotte’s image has pretty much hit rock bottom.” (Yonhap)She was referring to the mudslinging between the Lotte founder’s two sons Shin Dong-bin and Shin Dong-joo, who attacked each other publicly to gain controlling power over