SEOUL, South Korea — The founder of South Korea's sprawling retail conglomerate Lotte Group has died at the age of 97, company officials said Sunday. He was sentenced to four years in prison but was allowed to stay out of jail on health grounds. The business later grew to include dozens of subsidiaries in the food, retail and hotel industries. Shin was also found to have disposed of company assets in violation of his responsibilities as chairman by the presiding judge in his 2017 trial. He had been suffering from dementia and other diseases of old age before his death, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

Source: Philippine Star January 20, 2020 08:48 UTC