People walk by Lotte Department Store's very first branch in Beijing, China, in this 2018 file photo. Korea Times file

By Kim Jae-heun

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin plans to go to Vietnam next week, the first country he will visit since being granted a special pardon by the government on Aug. 15, according to Lotte officials, Monday. This trip shows how serious Korea's fifth-largest business group is about doing business in the Southeast Asian nation, now that it is near the completion of its withdrawal from China.

Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin / Courtesy of Lotte Group

Vietnam is considered the third-most important market for Lotte Group after Korea and Japan. The company currently operates 270 Lotteria restaurants and 15 Lotte Mart stores there. Lotteria is a burger chain operated by Lotte GRS and Lotte Mart is a large hypermarket store owned by Lotte Shopping.

Lotte Group's other affiliates are also jointly building large-scale shopping complexes and residential apartments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City now.

In Ho Chi Minh, Lotte Group plans to build a large complex called Eco Smart City, which is 1.5 times the size of the COEX convention and exhibition center in Samseong-dong, Gangnam District, Seoul. In Ho Tay, Hanoi, the company will complete the construction of the Lotte Mall Hanoi by 2023.

After Vietnam permitted visa-free entry in March, a number of Lotte executives, including Lotte Shopping CEO Kim Sang-hyun, Lotte Department Store CEO Jung Jun-ho and Lotte Mart CEO Kang Sung-hyun, visited the country to check on their companies' business.

In addition, Lotte established the overseas corporation, Lotte Ventures Vietnam, last year to support and develop Korean startups there. It is the first foreign venture capital firm approved for business by the Vietnamese government.

Meanwhile, Lotte is pulling its last department store out of Chengdu, China, which was once one of the most important markets after Korea and Japan.

Last month, Lotte Shopping held a board meeting to conclude the sale of its Chengdu branch. Once that department store is sold, Lotte will have withdrawn all of its business from China after entering the country 14 years ago.

"We are actively operating overseas businesses in Vietnam and Indonesia currently. In particular, the Vietnamese market shows steep growth in the retail business and there is still more room to grow. Korea has a good reputation in Vietnam that helps with our business there and people's income levels are rapidly growing too," a Lotte Shopping official said.

Lotte Shopping entered the Chinese market in 2008, opening five department stores and 199 discount stores. However, after Korea decided to deploy the U.S.' THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system in 2017, China began to retaliate economically against Korean firms there. Lotte Mart closed down all of its stores in China in 2018 and Lotte Department Store will take the same step after closing its Chengdu branch this year.