Lotte heir steps up presence in conglomerate's future planning

A visitor tastes a snack made by Lotte Wellfood during the 2025 Consumer Goods Forum in Amsterdam, held Tuesday to Friday. Courtesy of Lotte Corp.

Lotte Group Vice President Shin Yoo-yeol, the eldest son of the group’s Chairman Shin Dong-bin and the conglomerate’s most likely next-in-line chairman, is increasing his presence in the conglomerate's management, attending a global consumer goods forum in the Netherlands along with top executives.

According to Lotte Group, Sunday, Shin attended the 2025 Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit in Amsterdam from Tuesday to Friday. The forum, launched in 1953, is a global initiative currently with 400 consumer goods makers and distributors from 70 countries. Lotte has been a member of the forum since 2012, alongside globally known companies and brands like Amazon, Walmart and Nestle.

On the trip, Shin accompanied CEOs of Lotte subsidiaries including Lotte Shopping CEO and Vice Chairman Kim Sang-hyun, Lotte Chilsung Beverage CEO Park Yun-gie, and Lotte Wellfood CEO Lee Chang-yup. CEOs of Lotte's Japanese units also joined the delegation.

During the forum, Lotte exhibited its latest products and retail services which range from foods to shopping platforms, chemicals and hotels.

The group noted that top executives from Lotte's Korean and Japanese units attended the event together, highlighting the group’s competitiveness built on synergy between businesses across the two countries, calling it "one Lotte."

Lotte was founded in 1948 in Tokyo by Shin Kyuk-ho, Yoo-yeol’s grandfather, and it expanded to Seoul in 1967 with the establishment of Lotte Confectionary, now called Lotte Wellfood. Since last year, Yoo-yeol's father, the group chairman, has been stressing cooperation between Korean and Japanese units, so they can create synergy in raw material procurement, product exports and joint marketing.

Lotte Group Vice President Shin Yoo-yeol visits Lotte Innovate's booth at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Jan. 8. Yonhap

Shin’s participation in the trip has stoked speculation that the heir-apparent, 39, began asserting his presence within the Lotte organization and with its global business partners, both present and potential.

Shin is currently in charge of the group’s future growth office, with a focus on industries including retail goods, sales platforms and biologics.

Lotte’s board of directors last November promoted the younger Shin as the conglomerate’s new vice president. The promotion charged him with strengthening the conglomerate’s Korean businesses, expecting a boost for key growth engines and streamlining of unprofitable, cash-strapped businesses like Lotte Chemical and Lotte Shopping.

Born in London and raised in Tokyo, he is currently a Japanese national. His nationality has drawn attention since he began his career with Lotte by joining Lotte Holdings in Japan in 2020, as debate continues over whether Lotte Group should be considered a Korean or Japanese company.

In 2015, when Lotte Group's owner family made headlines over its internal rivalry for securing management control, Chairman Shin declared that “Lotte Group is a Korean company” and has since made efforts to dispel public doubts about the group’s national identity.

Some argue that Lotte is a Japanese company, as its Korean operations are ultimately controlled by its Japanese unit. Others contend it is a Korean company, given that the Chairman has been a Korean national since regaining his Korean nationality in 1996.

If the younger Shin changes his nationality to Korean, he will be exempted from mandatory military service because his age is now past the country's legal cap of 37.

The third-generation scion of the Lotte owner family on June 4 bought stocks of the conglomerate's Korean holding company, Lotte Corp., worth 280 million won ($200,000), cementing his 0.02 percent of the group ownership. It is speculated that he bought stocks for the second time since his latest promotion to prepare for his future ownership succession.