Korea‘s customs service finalized plans Thursday to grant the next round of duty-free licenses next week, despite growing pressure to change the schedule amid a political scandal that has also spilled over to the duty-free project.The Korean Customs Service alerted bidders for new licenses that the evaluation of their presentations would take place over three days, from Thursday to Saturday next week.  Lotte World Tower in souther Seoul, where Lotte would re-open a duty-free store if granted a l

South Korean prosecutors on Friday continued their ongoing investigation into companies that raised money for nonprofit foundations linked to President Park Geun-hye and her confidante, seeking to prove that the money involved amounted to bribes for the president’s inner circle.Earlier in the day, the special investigative team summoned an official from SK Group for questioning on allegation that the corporation illegally lobbied the Park administration to win back its duty-free shop licenses it

Hyundai Chemical said Tuesday it would start producing mixed xylene (MX)as the construction of its new plant has been completed.  Hyundai Chemical is a joint corporation that was established in 2014 by Hyundai Oilbank and Lotte Chemical with a financial injection of 1.2 trillion won ($1 billion). MX is a base material for benzene, toluene and xylene, which are used for producing polyester fiber, PET and gasoline additive. The new plant will refine 130,000 barrels of condensate per day, and produ

South Korean prosecutors said Thursday they will question the heads of seven local conglomerates over allegations that President Park Geun-hye had pressured them to make donations to two nonprofit organizations, possibly in exchange for favors.Investigators have arrested Choi Soon-sil, the president’s close confidante accused of pulling strings behind the scenes, Choi’s associates and former presidential secretaries on suspicions they coerced 53 companies to raise some 77.4 billion won ($67.4 mi

Prosecutors on Wednesday raided the homes of four former and current presidential aides as they accelerated a probe into the influence-peddling scandal surrounding a close friend of President Park Geun-hye.The homes of Ahn Bong-geun and Lee Jae-man, who served as presidential secretaries for public relations and administrative affairs, respectively, were included on the raid list, according to the prosecution. Their work logs and cell phones were confiscated in the process. The two are among Par

The scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her confidante Choi Soon-sil is spreading to the chebols, raising concerns about the possibility of influence-peddling in major business deals.The prosecution that is investigating allegations against Choi, has questioned executive level officials at Lotte and SK groups this week.(Yonhap)According to sources, the prosecution is planning to summon other executive members of conglomerates, such as CJ and Samsung, to question whether there was any u

[THE INVESTOR] Lotte Group on Oct. 25 pledged to invest a fresh 40 trillion won (US$35.16 billion) in the next five years and seek a stock listing of Hotel Lotte that has been stalled due to prosecutors’ investigation into the retail giant’s corruption scandal. The new plans came as Chairman Shin Dong-bin issued a public apology for the group’s series of irregularities. The Lotte chief himself was also indicted on charges of tax evasion, embezzlement and other criminal charges.“Lotte plans to in

Lotte Corp. eliminated over 8,000 safety problems in the past year at the Lotte World Tower, which is slated to open in April, the company said Sunday. The company said a total of 8,266 safety cases were found in its independent probe from November last year, with 97 percent of them fixed. The problems included trivial maintenance issues to safety-related matters such as managing fire apparatus and protective equipment. “Checking only one floor takes a lot of time and effort as each floor is aro

The elder brother of Lotte Group's chairman has sued the embattled businessman on suspicions of accounting irregularities related to a key unit, his aides said Tuesday, adding woes to the ongoing investigation into the retail giant. Shin Dong-joo, the former vice president of Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings, filed a complaint with South Korean prosecutors on Sept. 30, claiming Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin and two other officials were involved in cooking the accounting books of Lotte Shopping Co., SDJ

[THE INVESTOR] Five conglomerates turned in their application for the license to operate a downtown duty-free store on Oct. 4.On the deadline set by Korea Customs Service, all the potential bidders -- Hotel Lotte, SK Networks,  Shisegae DF, Hyundai Department Store and HDC Shilla Duty Free –- submitted their offers, vying for the three slots proposed for large firms. All candidates except SK Networks, whose duty-free store at Sheraton Walkerhill hotel has closed since failing to win a license la

[THE INVESTOR] A Seoul local court was to decide by late Wednesday on the prosecution’s request to issue an arrest warrant for Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin over accusations that he inflicted financial damage worth 176 billion won ($160 million) to the company by abusing his power as an heir to the nation’s fifth-largest conglomerate.The chairman attended a court hearing held to determine the warrant’s validity in the morning. He apologized for causing public concern.Last week, the prosecut

A Seoul local court was to decide by late Wednesday on the prosecution’s request to issue an arrest warrant for Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin over accusations that he inflicted financial damage worth 176 billion won ($160 million) to the company by abusing his power as an heir to the nation’s fifth-largest conglomerate.The chairman attended a court hearing held to determine the warrant’s validity in the morning. He apologized for causing public concern.Last week, the prosecution indicted hi

Korea’s largest shopping mall multiplex Starfield has attracted over 1.5 million visitors in the first 10 days of its opening, due to the long Chuseok holiday, its operator Shinsegae said Monday. “Starfield had a greater turn out than anticipated thanks to the various promotions we ran before the opening, such as television commercials staring famous celebrities and messages sent out to important clients,” a spokesman for Shinsegae said. Korea’s biggest shopping mall complex Starfield is crowded

Most Korean non-financial companies’ leverage will remain stable or improve. Despite continued macro-related challenges, we expect financial leverage for most of the Korean companies (excluding unlisted government-related issuers) that we rate to remain largely stable or improve over the next 12 months, driven by the corporates’ austerity efforts as well as earnings improvement from 2015 levels. This forecast also reflects our expectations for soft but steady global and domestic economic growth,

[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