Lotte chairman's oldest son comes to fore
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| Lotte Chemical Vice President Shin Yoo-yeol / Courtesy of Lotte Group |
By Park Jae-hyuk
Lotte Chemical Vice President Shin Yoo-yeol, the oldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, has drawn attention recently, due to his frequent attendance at the conglomerate's important events, according to industry officials, Friday.
Some consider his recent moves a signal that Lotte is accelerating its efforts to train him as the next leader to inherit control of the business group from his father.
Shin, also known by his Japanese name, Satoshi Shigemitsu, participated in Thursday's Value Creation Meeting (VCM), a meeting of the Lotte Group chairman and the CEOs of the group's affiliates at Lotte World Tower in Seoul.
This was the first time for him to accompany the chairman to the VCM in person, although the heir apparent had held meetings with high-ranking executives of the group last year and accompanied his father on his trip to Vietnam.
Earlier this month, the younger Shin accompanied Lotte Chemical CEO Kim Gyo-hyun on his visit to the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. They visited the exhibition booths of Lotte Group's affiliates and looked around the pavilions of SK, Samsung and LG.
During his visit to the world's most influential tech event, the Lotte Chemical vice president encountered several Korean reporters. The Japanese national, who does not have Korean citizenship, however, did not respond to the reporters, arousing questions about his fluency in Korean.
Born in 1986, he graduated from a college in Japan and got an MBA from Columbia University. Before joining Lotte Chemical, he also worked for Nomura Securities and Lotte Japan.
Last year, a local news outlet reported that Lotte's top executives briefed him on the company's businesses in English.
When the Lotte Group chairman was in conflict with his older brother, former Lotte Holdings Vice Chairman Shin Dong-joo, over the inheritance of the group's control from their father, late Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-ho, the public sentiment in Korea was more favorable to the founder's second-eldest son, as he spoke Korean better than the eldest son.
Industry officials therefore believe that the chairman's son is learning Korean, as he must have learned a lesson from the sibling feud involving his father and uncle.
The heir apparent is also expected to be naturalized as a Korean citizen after 2024, when he turns 38 years old. At this age, one can acquire Korean citizenship regardless of the completion of military service.
His father, who had both Korean and Japanese citizenship, gave up the latter when he turned 41 years old, because men younger than 40 were not allowed exemptions from the military service at that time.
Once the heir apparent becomes a Korean citizen, he is expected to increase his stake in Lotte affiliates in Korea.
Lotte Group, however, remains cautious of speculations about the managerial succession.
Before the VCM on Thursday, the Lotte Chemical CEO told reporters that the vice president will be tasked with looking for ways to collaborate with Japanese companies having advanced technical skills. Shin is currently in charge of managing the raw material business at Lotte Chemical's Tokyo office.
