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| Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin |
He is expected to meet executives of the Hershey Company, including CEO Michele Buck, and IBM during his stay in the U.S. this week. The Lotte chief will also be checking on its operations there, including The Lotte New York Palace Hotel on Madison Avenue.
A Lotte official declined to further disclose Shin's travel plan.
Shin's U.S. trip comes after a 10-month travel ban imposed over allegations he embezzled money and gave financial support to Choi Soon-sil, a close associate of ousted President Park Geun-hye.
He is expected to sit down with Lotte's partner Hershey CEO Buck to share and discuss possible measures against China's suspension of their Lotte Shanghai Foods' chocolate plant.
The company is a joint venture between Lotte Confectionery and Hershey, and produces chocolate and cocoa products, generating about 80 billion won ($70 million) in annual sales.
China has shut down Lotte's chocolate factory and retail stores after Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate provided land for the U.S. anti-missile system here.
The Lotte chief will also likely meet IBM Chairwoman Ginni Rometty to talk about Watson, IBM's artificial intelligence (AI) project.
The retail giant signed a contract with IBM Korea last December to deploy the AI at the Lotte Department Store and other retail chains to provide personalized services to its customers through Watson's data analysis and cognitive computing technology.
Lotte plans to make Watson interact with customers, and use it to analyze market data in confectionery, food and beverages for new product development. Lotte Data Communication is seeking to build and operate an AI platform to integrate Lotte's businesses within five years.
Shin may also meet executives of Axiall, with which Lotte Chemical will establish a JV and build an ethane cracker in Louisiana by 2018.
Then, the chairman will check on the operations of the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. Lotte purchased the famous 55-story luxury hotel in Manhattan for $805 million in August 2015.
Before his departure, Shin looked around the firm's Lotte Duty Free store at Incheon International Airport. Lotte recently won a license to operate a new duty free store and sell liquor and cigarettes in the airport's second passenger terminal.
