More Game of Thrones than Disney: scandal at Korea’s Lotte

Lotte is for many South Koreans and Japanese as lamblike a brand as Disney, but behind the amusements parks and cinemas lies a Machiavellian political saga that reads more like a scene from Game of Thrones than The Aristocats.

“The tragedy at Lotte is an old story,” says Geoffrey Cain, business analyst and author of an upcoming book on Samsung. “The chaebol [large family-owned conglomerates] are not just businesses, but imperial dynasties in a modern form. Tales of drama, warfare, unholy marriages and suicides are all a part of it.”

Lotte Group vice-chairman found dead just hours before facing probe into alleged kickbacks and tax evasion

The latest chapter involves Lotte’s vice-chairman, the 69-year-old Lee In-won, whose body was found on a hiking trail on the outskirts of Seoul on August 26, hours before investigators planned to question him as part of a probe into corruption by Lotte executives. A four-page suicide note was found in his car.

The probe began in June, when about 200 investigators burst into Lotte headquarters and the homes of executives, snapping up account books to determine the extent to which senior managers had been using the company as a personal piggy bank.

“We’ve seen similar debacles at other conglomerates,” says Cain. “A huge number of them are run by convicted criminals who are so indispensable to the nation that they get presidential pardons. Hence the Korea discount.”

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