Chinese consumers have turned their ire on South Korean companies in their dispute over the deployment of the THAAD missile-defense system.
The first pieces of the US-made Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile system arrived in South Korea earlier this month, the latest step a deployment process the Chinese government had greeted with chagrin.
Beijing has inveighed against the deployment and criticized the South Korean government for undermining bilateral relations by hosting the missile system.
Chinese citizens, among whom a sense of nationalism is strong, have also taken up the anti-THAAD mantle, protesting and boycotting South Korean businesses and tourism.
Several Chinese state-run media outlets have called for organized voluntary boycotts of South Korean businesses and imports. China is Seoul’s largest trading partner, receiving one-quarter of South Korea’s exports.
Those public protests have fallen heavily on one company: South Korean conglomerate Lotte Group.
Lotte agreed in early March to turn over a golf course to the South Korean government to host the THAAD missile system.
In the days after, the company said 23 Lotte Mart stores in China were shut down by authorities there, who claimed the outlets were in violation of fire-safety regulations. The maker of one of China’s most popular snacks (among other Chinese retailers ) withdrew its goods from Lotte Marts in the country, saying it would ” never cooperate ” with the South Korean company.
Lotte was also ordered to stop construction on a $2.6 billion theme-park project in northeastern China after Chinese authorities suddenly uncovered safety issues. Cyberattacks targeted Lotte websites, shutting them down, and protesters in China’s northeastern Jilin province marched with banners reading, “Lotte supports THAAD, get out of China immediately. ”
Lotte said on March 19 that 79 of its 99 stores in China were facing business suspensions and had been forced to shut down temporarily.
Lotte is heavily invested in the Chinese domestic market, spending nearly $9 billion on its operations there since 1994. The Chinese market makes up nearly 30% of Lotte’s sales outside of South Korea.
At present, it has 22 subsidiaries in China , with 26,000 employees and annual sales of about $2.
