'High-Intensity Overhaul' at Lotte... Third-Generation Owner Shin Yu-yeol Promoted to Vice President

Vice President Shin Yu-yeol Leads New Business and Global Market Expansion
Poor Performance in Chemical Sector Leads to Replacement of 10 out of 13 CEOs

Shin Yu-yeol, Executive Director and eldest son of Shin Dong-bin, chairman of Lotte Group's third generation, was promoted to Vice Chairman on the 28th. With this promotion, Lotte Group has officially put the third generation of the owner family at the forefront of management. Vice Chairman Shin plans to actively lead the global market expansion of Lotte Group's new and core businesses.

Vice Chairman Shin Yu-yeol Promoted... Leading Management Front

Through the 2025 regular executive personnel reshuffle conducted on the same day, Lotte Group announced that Shin Yu-yeol, Executive Director of Lotte Holdings' Future Growth Office, will be promoted to Vice Chairman. After being appointed Executive Director of the Future Growth Office at the end of last year, he has risen to Vice Chairman within a year to lead Lotte Group's future businesses.

Born in 1986, Vice Chairman Shin holds a degree in Environmental Informatics from Keio University in Japan and an MBA from Columbia University in the United States. He joined Japan Lotte Group in 2020 as head of sales and in 2022 worked at Lotte Chemical's Basic Materials Tokyo branch and Lotte Holdings' ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) Management Innovation Office's Future Growth Task Force (TF). Last year, in Japan Lotte, he was appointed CEO of Lotte Real Estate Co., Ltd., CEO of Financial Co., Ltd., and Head of Management Strategy at Lotte Holdings. In Korea, he concurrently serves as Executive Director of Lotte Holdings' Future Growth Office and Head of Global Strategy at Lotte Biologics.

Lotte Group stated, "Vice Chairman Shin has enhanced his financial expertise through roles such as CEO of Lotte Financial and other investment affiliates," adding, "He will actively lead the successful establishment of new businesses such as bio contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) and the global market expansion of core businesses, laying the foundation for the group's sustainable growth."

Yonhap News

Eight out of Ten CEOs in Chemical Sector Replaced... Major Overhaul

On this day, Lotte Group, having once suffered from liquidity crisis rumors, carried out a high-intensity personnel reshuffle. Among the two main wings of Lotte Group, the chemical sector took the bold step of replacing 10 out of 13 CEOs. The overall head of Lotte's chemical sector will be Lee Young-jun, promoted to President and CEO of Lotte Chemical Advanced Materials. President Lee will concurrently serve as CEO of Lotte Chemical Basic Materials and is tasked with swiftly transforming the business structure from basic chemicals to high value-added specialty chemicals.

Lee Hoon-ki, who led Lotte's chemical sector, will retire. It is reported that he expressed his intention to step down, taking responsibility for the underperformance of the chemical sector and the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) he promoted while serving as Head of Management Innovation at Lotte Holdings. Recently, Lotte Chemical faced liquidity crisis rumors as about 2 trillion KRW worth of corporate bonds entered an event of default (EOD) status. Industry insiders point to factors such as the downturn in business performance, the Indonesian 'Line Project' (5.2 trillion KRW), and the acquisition of Lotte Energy Materials (2.7 trillion KRW) as causes of this situation.

Hwang Min-jae, Executive Director and Head of Technology Strategy at Lotte Chemical Group HQ (CTO), was promoted to Vice Chairman and appointed CEO of Lotte Chemical Advanced Materials. Jung Seung-won, Executive Director and CEO of Lotte INEOS Chemical, was promoted to Vice Chairman and appointed CEO of Lotte Fine Chemical. By appointing proven internal talents as CEOs, Lotte aims to lead business innovation in the chemical sector and drive organizational change.

All Three Lotte Hotel CEOs Replaced... Distribution and Food Executives Retained

Hotel Lotte replaced the heads of all three business divisions within the corporation (Lotte Hotel, Lotte Duty Free, and Lotte World). This move aims to strengthen the company's competitiveness by holding them accountable for poor performance. Jung Ho-seok, Vice Chairman and Head of Business Support at Lotte Holdings, has been appointed CEO of Hotel Lotte. He plans to accelerate the global expansion of hotel businesses while managing risks through the full-scale implementation of consignment operation strategies. Furthermore, he will serve as chairman of the corporate board overseeing Hotel Lotte, including Lotte World and Lotte Duty Free, to enhance synergy among business divisions. Lotte Duty Free appointed Kim Dong-ha, Senior Managing Director and Head of Corporate Culture at Lotte Holdings' HR Innovation Office, as the new CEO following his promotion to Executive Director. Lotte World appointed Kwon Oh-sang, Executive Director and Head of New Business Division, as the new CEO.

Lotte Group retained Lee Young-gu, Vice Chairman and Head of Lotte Food Group, and Kim Sang-hyun, Vice Chairman and Head of Lotte Distribution Group, who lead the food and distribution affiliates. Lotte Group plans to maintain consistency in the current business strategies of the food and distribution sectors while enhancing execution capabilities to achieve concrete results within this year.

Lotte Group stated, "Since entering emergency management in August, we have been fully committed to continuous improvement of management structure and strengthening responsible management," adding, "This year's executive reshuffle signifies a bold personnel overhaul to fundamentally change the management structure and strictly hold accountability for performance, aiming to strengthen fundamental competitiveness."