76 | FORBES ASIA JUNE 2018
The chairman of the Lotte Group went to prison in
February but is appealing his 30-month sentence
for bribery. It was part of the scandal that led to
last year’s impeachment and conviction of South
Korea’s former president, Park Geun-Hye, who’s
also in prison. Shin, who’s at No. 33, was convicted
of transferring $6.5 million to a confidante of the
president to win approval for duty-free shops. He
pleaded not guilty, saying the fund was for sports
development. He remains vice chairman of Lotte
Holdings, where he greatly expanded its hotel,
shopping and food enterprises and then defeated
his older brother, No. 38 Shin Dong-Joo, in a contest
to succeed their father, founder Shin Kyuk-Ho. Lotte
Shopping is now selling Lotte Mart and Lotte Super
stores in China after China shut many of them down
after Lotte provided the land—a golf course—for a
missile-defense battery southeast of Seoul.One of Nike’s biggest suppliers catapults into the billionaire ranks, debuting on the list at No. 11
thanks to his Taekwang Industrial, which churns out 60 million units for the brand each year.
With 70,000 employees and factories in Vietnam, Indonesia and China, last year Taekwang
earned more than $150 million in net profit and collected $1.5 billion in revenue. Park, who
founded Taekwang in 1971 and owns 98% of the privately held company with his four children,
made headlines in 2011 for a corruption scandal that involved former president Roh Moo-Hyun.
He was sentenced to 30 months for bribery and tax evasion.
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