A Lotte Mart supermarket located in Chongwenmen, Beijing Photo: Huang GeGT
The general public and companies in China have taken actions to boycott South Korea-based Lotte Group amid growing angers over the company's land-swap deal with South Korean military for the deployment of US anti-missile system Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD).
At a Lotte Mart supermarket in Chongwenmen, Beijing's Dongcheng district, there were just a few shoppers, most of them elderly, when the Global Times visited it at midday Tuesday. Lotte has more than 100 such supermarkets in China, which account for 29 percent of its global share.
An employee at the supermarket Cheap Women's Air Max 97 GS Shoes Purple White Australia , who declined to be identified, told the Global Times that the store is running as usual. "In the first few days after Lotte's decision was announced, it was hard to feel [that Chinese citizens were responding] because the supermarket's prices are relatively cheaper than its competitors nearby," he said. "But I think gradually we may see reduced consumer traffic."
South Korea's defense ministry on Tuesday signed a deal to exchange government land in Namyanju, Gyeonggi, with a golf course owned by Lotte in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Cheap Women's Air Max 97 GS Shoes Varsity Red White Australia , where THAAD is to be sited, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
The land-exchange deal was approved by Lotte's board of directors on Monday.
A chewing gum supplier for the supermarket surnamed Liu agreed. "If the Chinese government has taken actions against Lotte, we would be very supportive to force the company out of China," she said.
Another shopper, a 40-year-old man surnamed Ye, said he regularly shops