I sent a letter of reconciliation to Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-ju.

It was confirmed that Shin Dong-ju, chairman of SDJ Corporation who had been in dispute with Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin, sent a handwritten letter proposing reconciliation.

Shin Dong-ju's letter, which was obtained by the Seoul newspaper, contains details of the basic policy of reconciliation along with Shin's regards. This policy is summed up in three columns. The book suggests that the two brothers stop the management dispute and that the Japanese Lotte Holdings will become independent from Japan in order to resolve the structure that dominates the Korean Lotte Group. In addition, the plan is to realize the decision made by the founder, honorary chairman Shin Kyuk-ho.

In the end, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-ju of Japan and Lotte of Korea Chairman Shin Dong-bin of Japan are in charge of this project.

"We will make Korea Lotte independent under the responsibility of Dongbin and make it a structure that is compatible between Korea and Japan and a structure that does not interfere with each other," Chairman Shin Dong-ju wrote in the letter.

"If the reconciliation plan is realized, Dong Bin will not only have a stable management base, but will also be able to work at Lotte Group in the future, which will help Korean and Japanese employees to work at Lotte Group with confidence," he said. "I believe that Lotte Group in Korea will not be influenced by Japanese management in terms of capital relations."

● 4 trillion Japanese Lotte has 100 trillion Korean Lotte

In order to understand the situation that Chairman Shin Dong-joo asked for reconciliation with Chairman Shin Dong-bin, it is necessary to examine the dispute over management rights between Lotte's history and the brothers that have erupted since 2015.

Shin Kyuk-ho, honorary chairman of the company who moved from 사설토토 Ulsan to Japan in 1942, became very popular and established Lotte in 1948.

Since establishing Lotte Confectionery in Korea in 1967 on the occasion of normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan (1965, Lotte has grown to become the fifth largest conglomerate in Korea's business rankings.

As of 2018, Korea's Lotte Group and Japan's Lotte Group are currently making about $8.4 billion (100 trillion KRW) in sales and $4.4 billion (4 trillion KRW) in sales. Korea's sales have become overwhelmingly larger than its headquarters in Japan.

The top spot in the corporate governance structure of the Korean Lotte affiliates is Hotel Lotte, whose largest shareholder is Lotte Holdings in Japan. Other shares are also related to Lotte in Japan.

That is, Japan's Lotte controls Korea's Lotte.

Lotte has been under the supervision of honorary chairman Shin Kyuk-ho, the eldest son of Lotte Group, Shin Dong-ju, and Shin Dong-bin, the second son of Lotte Group, were run by Lotte, but there was no noise regarding the governance structure.

The problem arose as honorary chairman Shin Kyuk-ho did not clearly define Lotte's governance structure and succession structure across Korea and Japan, even when he was over 90 years old.

When Chairman Shin Dong-ju was fired from all positions at Lotte in Japan in January 2015, the dispute over management rights between his siblings surfaced.

When Chairman Shin Dong-bin was appointed as CEO of Lotte Holdings in Japan on July 16, 11 days later, Honorary Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho (the then president of the company) dismissed all directors of Lotte Holdings in Japan. As Chairman Shin Dong-ju is known to guard his side, the situation is beyond expectation.

Chairman Shin Dong-bin held an emergency board meeting to nullify the dismissal plan led by Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho and dismissed his father as chairman of the board of directors, who had no real managerial control.

Since then, Chairman Shin Dong-ju has tried to return to management several times, but failed repeatedly.

Honorary Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho was judged to be a limited opinion that it is difficult to make a normal decision in June 2017.

●Discussing the management rights of the brothers, who have even been criticized for their nationality.

Victory, that had seemed the beginning of the end for the Lotte chairman Shin Dong-bin, the Lotte also caught up in feud over control of the ‘Park Geun-hye - choesunsil gukjjeong of nongdan’, new factors have sprung up. The 7 billion won (7 million U.S. dollars) that Lotte appeared in the K-Sports Foundation was recognized as a bribe for the listing of Hotel Lotte and Lotte Duty Free.

Chairman Shin Dong-bin was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on February 13 last year for bribery charges.

A week later, Chairman Shin Dong-bin resigned as the CEO of Lotte Holdings in Japan. In Japan, it is commonly known that a CEO should resign if a company owner is arrested.

As Chairman Shin Dong-bin resigned, Lotte Holdings became the sole representative system for Takayuki Tsukuda, who was co-chairman of Japan.

In the course of a four-year struggle for managerial control, the "house fight" was exposed more than the last drama, and Lotte's corporate image was dealt a heavy blow.

More than anything else, Lotte's governance structure across Korea and Japan has become widely known, and its poor ability to speak Korean has sparked controversy over whether Lotte is a Korean company or not.

● Shin Dong-ju, "Japanese management is likely to dominate Lotte in Korea"

Chairman Shin Dong-ju wants to achieve his biggest goal through reconciliation with Chairman Shin Dong-bin.

After being dismissed as vice chairman of Lotte Holdings, which was in charge at the end of 2014, Chairman Shin Dong-ju has tried to return to management five times in four years, but he has been defeated repeatedly in the general meeting of shareholders. He also dismissed a lawsuit filed in a Japanese court, claiming that he was unfairly dismissed from his post.

The fact that the ownership structure of Lotte in Japan and the relationship between Lotte in Korea are not favorable to Korea is also based on the reconciliation plan of Chairman Shin Dong-ju.

According to the Seoul Shimbun, Shin Dong-bin holds 4.47 percent of the voting rights of Lotte Holdings in Japan, including the right to vote, and Shin Dong-ju, chairman of Kwangyoon, 33.31 percent. In addition, the voting rights of honorary chairman Shin Kyuk-ho and the Lotte Foundation are only 0.75 percent.

The remaining 53.33 percent of the voting rights are substantially controlled by Japanese management. Chairman Shin Dong-bin was able to maintain his position in both Korea and Japan by securing support from Japanese management.