Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin, First Korean Businessman to Meet Japanese Prime Minister Suga

Meeting for One Hour on the Morning of the 11th
Attended as a Japanese Distribution-Related Businessperson

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, who is managing the Korea-Japan Lotte Group while staying in Japan, became the first domestic businessperson to meet with Yoshihide Suga (菅義偉), Prime Minister of Japan.

According to Japanese media on the 12th, Prime Minister Suga had lunch for about an hour from 11:22 a.m. on the 11th at a Chinese restaurant near the Prime Minister's residence in Tokyo with Shin Dong-bin, Chairman of Lotte Group, Kazutoshi Kobayashi, President of cosmetics company Kose, and Takashi Sawada, President of convenience store chain FamilyMart.

It is known that this was the first time since his inauguration on the 16th of last month that Prime Minister Suga met with a Korean-descended businessperson. However, since the meeting was held between the Prime Minister and businesspeople related to Japanese distribution companies, it is expected that discussions related to Korean Lotte were limited in nature.

In the business community, there are expectations that Chairman Shin will serve as a bridge between Korea and Japan. Given that Shin Dong-bin had a close relationship with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (安倍晋三), it is anticipated that he will communicate relatively smoothly with Prime Minister Suga, who has inherited Abe’s policy direction.

Meanwhile, Chairman Shin, who departed for Japan in mid-August, is overseeing business operations in both Korea and Japan while in Japan.