Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| Lotte Group logo / Courtesy of Lotte Holdings |
Lotte Group said it will pay 600 billion won for goods received early to help its business partners manage their finances ahead of the Chuseok holiday next week.
The decision comes as the COVID-19 pandemic has brought considerable economic suffering to small- and medium-sized enterprises here that are facing difficulties in paying salaries and bonuses to their employees.
Thirty-five Lotte Group subsidiaries including Lotte Department Store, Lotte ON, Lotte Data Communication Company, Lotte Engineering & Construction and Lotte Chemical will do the same, and about 14,000 firms are expected to benefit from this.
Lotte Group said all the payments will be made by Sept. 28, which is three days prior to Chuseok and 12 days earlier than usual.
The group is also operating a mutual growth fund worth 965 billion won to aid its business partners by helping with loans while exempting them from interest.
Meanwhile, Lotte Holdings delivered the "Lotte Pleasure Box" to 1,300 single mothers nationwide in collaboration with the Lotte Foundation and Lotte Fine Chemical, Sept. 10.
Single mothers face many difficulties amid toughened social distancing practices brought on by the COVID-19. In the box, the holdings firm included various products for infants, and food.
Since July 2013, Lotte Holdings has been sending the Lotte Pleasure Box to its neighbors in need. The products in the box are chosen according to the situation of the recipients. A total 54,500 boxes have been donated so far.
About 80 to 100 volunteers including workers from Lotte Group had been participating in this campaign to put products in the Pleasure Box and carry them to the delivery vehicle.
However, due to concerns of COVID-19 infection, the volunteer work did not take place this time.
Lotte Group's theme park firm Lotte World also created a pajama vest for newborn babies to assist single-parent families here in August. Ninety employees of Lotte World participated in this volunteer service to do the needlework one after one to make all the pajama vests donated in Songpa District, Seoul, along with handwritten cards.
Lotte Fine Chemistry sent 300 sets of vitamin pills to disabled persons in Ulsan Metropolitan City in the same period. Previously, the chemical company had been making chicken soup but that too has been canceled due to the pandemic.
