April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Korean companies are slowly resuming their full operations in China as the business enviornment appears to be improving following the election of President Moon Jae-in, according to industry sources.

Lotte Group, which was hit hardest by the THAAD row as it decided to swap land with the Korean government for deploying the advanced missile system, has seen its businesses recovering in China. 

Lotte Engineering & Construction has kicked off a promotional road trip to China to sell its ultra-luxury apartment complex Signiel Residence -- occupying 42-71 floors of Lotte World Tower -- to rich Chinese buyers.

“A few officials left for Shanghai last week, their first business trip to China in three months,” said a Lotte Construction employee said. “They will meet potential customers and recover lost ground.”

Lotte Signiel Residence, priced between 5 billion won (US$4.47 million) to 30 billion won, is the most expensive residence complex in Korea.

In addition, the Chinese-language website of Lotte Mart was relaunched recently after shutting down on March 1, raising hopes for its 87 closed supermarkets. The retail giant owns 99 stores in China and 67 stores were ordered by authorities to suspend operations on fire control issues, while 20 were closed voluntarily amid a local boycott of the company.

The Chinese website of cosmetic giant Amorepacific also resumed full operations on May 15 after keeping a low profile for a few months, the company said.

“We have issued some ads with Korean celebrities back on the website and online sales have been recovering since the new president took the office,” an official at Amorepacific told The Investor.

A source at a cosmetics company said he has started receiving inquiries again from Chinese clients about imports and investment opportunities.

Asiana Airlines too has invited 28 influential Chinese bloggers as part of its marketing push. At the peak of the THAAD tension, many promotional visits of Chinese power bloggers were canceled.

A local tour agency also recently received inquiries for a group tour of 4,000 employees of a Chinese medical equipment company. The firm had originally planned to send 9,000 employees to Korea as part of incentives but changed the destination to Thailand amid the THAAD row.

The bilateral relations turned frosty when Korea announced the deployment of THAAD in July last year and tensions escalated after Lotte International in March agreed to swap land with the Korean government to deploy THAAD.

Following this, China ordered travel agencies to stop selling tour programs to Korea, while Korean firms scaled back their promotions featuring hallyu celebrities.

By Park Ga-young (gypark@heraldcorp.com)