By David Josef Volodzko
South China Morning Post
Sep 3, 2016
Behind the amusement parks and cinemas lies a Machiavellian political saga
Lotte is for many South Koreans and Japanese as lamblike a brand as Disney, but behind the amusements parks and cinemas lies a Machiavellian political saga that reads more like a scene from Game of Thrones than The Aristocats.
“The tragedy at Lotte is an old story,” says Geoffrey Cain, business analyst and author of an upcoming book on Samsung. “The chaebol [large family-owned conglomerates] are not just businesses, but imperial dynasties in a modern form. Tales of drama, warfare, unholy marriages and suicides are all a part of it.”
“We’ve seen similar debacles at other conglomerates,” says Cain. “A huge number of them are run by convicted criminals who are so indispensable to the nation that they get presidential pardons. Hence the Korea discount.”
Read more about the Lotte scandal at South China Morning Post
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