Shin Kyuk-ho
Shin Kyuk-ho (1964)
Born(1921-11-03)3 November 1921
Urusan, South Keisho, Korea
Died19 January 2020(2020-01-19) (aged 98)
Seoul, South Korea
NationalitySouth Korean
EducationWaseda University (Jitsugyo High and kōgakkō[1])
OccupationBusinessman
Known forFounder of Lotte Corporation
Children4, including Shin Dong-bin
RelativesShin Choon-ho (brother)
Shin Dong-won (nephew)
Native names
Japanese name
Kanji重光 武雄
Korean name
Hangul신격호
Hanja辛格浩

Shin Kyuk-ho (3 November 1921 – 19 January 2020), known in Japan as Takeo Shigemitsu,[2] was a South Korean businessman known for being the founder of the South Korean-Japanese conglomerate Lotte Corporation (Group), one of the largest chaebols in South Korea.[3]

During the bubble economy of Japan from the 1980s to the 1990s, he became the fourth wealthiest person in the world according to American business magazine Forbes in 1988,[4] setting the record for the greatest wealth ever achieved by a Korean.[5] Driven by a lifelong desire to contribute to his homeland, South Korea (Republic of Korea), his dream of the Lotte World Tower, among the top five tallest in the world and the highest in the Korean peninsula, was realized in 2016, and he died in 2020.[6][7][8]

Career

Shin was born in Ulsan, Korea in 1921. He was the first of five sons and five daughters. Among his siblings was Shin Choon-ho, founder of South Korean food conglomerate Nongshim. In 1941, he stowed away on a ship to Japan, where he studied chemical engineering at Waseda University[9] (kōgakkō) after he graduated from Waseda Jitsugyo High School. He adopted the Japanese name Takeo Shigemitsu and opened a rice cooker manufacturing plant in 1942.[2] After the plant was destroyed during an air raid,[citation needed] Shin was rendered an unemployed college graduate until he founded Lotte in 1948.[10] Lotte was expanded to South Korea in 1967.[11] It grew from selling chewing gum to becoming a major multinational corporation.[12]

In 2006, Shin and his family were ranked 136th on Forbes magazine's list "The World's Billionaires."[13] In 2009, Shin was ranked 38th on the magazine's list of South Korea's richest people.[14] Lotte itself was South Korea's fifth largest conglomerate as of 2017.[15]

In June 2017, Shin retired from his role as board director of Lotte Holdings Co. after holding the position for nearly 70 years.[16] In December 2017, he was sentenced to four years in prison after he was convicted of embezzling 128.6 billion won (119 million USD) from Lotte. However, Shin was allowed to remain free given his poor health.[17]

Personal life

Shin had a total of four children from three marriages. His first wife, Noh Soon-hwa, died in 1949. They had one daughter, Shin Young-ja (born 1944).[18] Shin then married a Japanese woman, Hatsuko Shigemitsu, in 1952 under the common-law marriage system.[19][20] They had two sons, Shin Dong-joo (born 1954)[21] and Shin Dong-bin (born 1956).[22] Shin was also married to Seo Mi-Kyung in South Korea under the country's common-law marriage system.[23] They had one daughter, Shin Yu-mi (born 1982).[24] Because of this bigamic common-law marriage status, some regard Seo Mi-Kyung as a concubine of Shin Kyuk-ho.[25] Shin Dong-bin, second son of Shin Kyuk-ho and Hatsuko Shigemitsu, referred to Seo Mi-Kyung as "my father's girlfriend".[26]

References

  1. ^ https://businesspost.co.kr/BP?command=print&idxno=60220
  2. ^ a b "Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk Ho's life from rags to riches to prison term". The Straits Times. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  3. ^ "신격호" [Shin Kyuk-ho]. Daum 100 (in Korean). Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  4. ^ "롯데 신격호회장 세계 4위 갑부랭크|개인자산 80억불…한·일에 42개기업 거느려|유지제품으로 출발 「롯데껌」으로 큰돈 벌어". 중앙일보 (in Korean). 9 July 1988. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  5. ^ 조선비즈 (15 December 2022). "한-일서 사업 세계적 거부/신격호 롯데그룹회장(일요대담)". 조선비즈 (in Korean). Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  6. ^ ""한국 국격 높일 수 있다면…롯데월드타워, 이윤 안 남아도 된다"". 한국경제 (in Korean). 28 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  7. ^ 신호경 (3 May 2017). "신격호, '30년 꿈' 이뤘다…롯데월드타워 123층 직접 올라(종합)". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 24 October 2023.
  8. ^ 신호경 (3 May 2017). "신격호, '평생 숙원' 롯데월드타워 123층 올랐다". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  9. ^ http://h2.khan.co.kr/print.html?id=201508201628461
  10. ^ Magdin, Radu (12 July 2022). "Council Post: The Asian Century: Its Roots In Family Businesses And The Choices They Made". Forbes. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  11. ^ "LOTTE". www.lotte.co.kr. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
  12. ^ Schreiber, Mark (3 March 2018). "Anniversaries loom for gum producer Lotte and the Yoshiwara red-light district". Japan Times. ISSN 0447-5763. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  13. ^ "#136 Shin Kyuk-Ho & family". Forbes. 2006. Archived from the original on 15 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  14. ^ "#38 Shin Kyuk-Ho". Forbes. 29 April 2009. Archived from the original on 4 May 2009. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  15. ^ "Lotte Hotel to open chain in Myanmar next month". Yonhap News Agency. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  16. ^ Kim, Hooyeon (24 June 2017). "Lotte Group Founder Shin Kyuk-ho Retires as Board Director at 94". Bloomberg. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  17. ^ "Jail for 95-year-old South Korean tycoon". BBC News. 22 December 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  18. ^ Min, Byeong-ki; Park, Jun-u (7 July 2016). "신영자 이사장 영장심사때 대성통곡… '애끓는 모정'". Munhwa Ilbo. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  19. ^ Yu, Sin-jae (1 August 2015). "롯데, 시게미쓰 家門의 전쟁". The Hankyoreh (in Korean). Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  20. ^ "신격호 롯데 총괄회장 부인 시게미쓰 하츠코 법률혼 아닌 사실혼 관계" [Lotte Chairman Shin Kyuk-ho in an informal relationship with Shigemitsu Hatsuko]. Seoul Shinmun (in Korean). 8 March 2016. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  21. ^ "신동주" [Shin Dong-joo]. Daum 100 (in Korean). Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  22. ^ "신동빈" [Shin Dong-bin]. Daum 100 (in Korean). Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  23. ^ "Lotte suspected of giving favors to founder's third wife". Yonhap News Agency. 17 June 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  24. ^ Park, Ji-hyeon (29 August 2015). "롯데가 경영권 분쟁 속 '방배동 별당' 서미경·신유미 모녀는?". Women's Chosun (in Korean). Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  25. ^ "중혼 불법인데 셋째 부인? '신격호와 사실혼' 서미경 호칭 논란" [Is it illegal to get married as the third wife? Controversy over Shin Kyuk-ho's 'informal wife']. Money Today (in Korean). 20 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
  26. ^ "'故 신격호' 빈소 30분 머문 서미경 누구? "임신 후 자취 감춰"" [Seo Mi-kyung, hidden after pregnancy, showed up for 30 minutes]. Segye Ilbo (in Korean). 20 January 2020. Retrieved 20 January 2020.
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