South Korea's Lotte sells China theme park project for $326 mln, reports MoneyToday

Lotte

25/04/2024 04:36

By Ju-min Park
       SEOUL, April 25 (Reuters) - South Korean retail
conglomerate Lotte Group has sold for about 450 billion won
($326.73 million) its China theme park project that has been
stalled due to geopolitical tensions, South Korean online media
outlet MoneyToday reported on Thursday.
    Relations between the two Asian nations deteriorated sharply
in the years following the installation in South Korea of the
U.S. anti-missile system called Terminal High Altitude Area
Defense (THAAD).
    China had argued that THAAD's powerful radar could peer into
its airspace, and reacted by sharply cutting trade and cultural
imports from South Korea, although tensions have eased in recent
times.
        Caught in the heat of the diplomatic crisis, Lotte
halted some seven years ago the so-called Lotte Town project to
build a shopping mall, a hotel and a theme park in the Chinese
northeastern city of Shenyang.
    MoneyToday, without identifying its sources, said Lotte
recently sold its China-based company running the project to a
Shenyang city-run firm.
    An official at the group's holding company, Lotte Corp
 004990.KS , said that the sale process was still underway, but 
did not provide further details.
($1 = 1,377.2900 won)

 (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
 ((ju-min.park@thomsonreuters.com; Reuters Messaging:
ju-min.park.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))