Lotte chief's eldest son nominated for board of Lotte Holdings Japan

Shin Yoo-yeol

The eldest son of Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has been nominated to join the board of directors at Lotte Holdings in Japan, an industry source said Monday.

Lotte Holdings in Japan is scheduled to hold a meeting of shareholders on Wednesday and vote on the nomination of Shin Yoo-yeol to the board, according to the source.

The son, 38, began his career at Lotte Group in 2020 when he took a job in the sales division of Lotte Holdings. He currently serves as an executive director of the group's Future Growth Office.

In a statement, the chairman's elder brother, Shin Dong-joo, said he will oppose the nomination of his nephew to the board at the planned shareholder meeting.

The chairman's brother is the head of Kojunsha, which owns a 28.1 percent stake in Lotte Holdings, while he himself has a 1.77 percent stake in the holding company.

From 2016 to 2023, he made nine failed attempts to return to the holding firm's board as director and oust the current chairman. He is making his 10th attempt for the same purposes.

The Lotte chairman and his brother were at the center of a high-profile family feud over succession within Lotte Group until their father and group founder Shin Kyuk-ho's death in January 2020 as the two control the company's operations in Japan and Korea, respectively.

Shin Dong-bin officially became the successor to his father in 2015.

Yonhap