At the beginning of the new year, new work is being carried out in an orderly manner, and the anti-Korean storm that started last year is getting bigger and bigger.
Last year, South Korea selected a golf course in Seongju as the deployment site for THAAD. This golf course belongs to the Lotte Group. Now, Lotte has announced that it has agreed to provide land for THAAD.
If everything goes well, the deployment can be completed in 5-7 months.
South Korea has five major chaebols: Samsung, Hyundai, LG, SK, and Lotte.
The first three all know that SK Group is one of South Korea's largest energy suppliers, with business covering energy, chemicals, telecommunications and semiconductor fields.
Lotte is engaged in department store retail, cosmetics, hotels, etc.
It entered China in the 1990s and opened many Lotte Mart and Lotte Department Stores. Up to now, it has more than 100 stores, more than 20,000 employees, and a total turnover of more than 11 trillion won, about 50-60 billion yuan.
As soon as the news came out, people were even more excited.
Yao Yuan manipulated the platform to focus on one piece of news. Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dongbin said in an interview with Global News Eye:
"Don't worry, the Chinese are very philistine, spineless and bloodless. If we lower the price, they will buy it. I am very optimistic about Rakuten's prospects in the Chinese market. Based on past experience, they will resist for a period of time at most, like a gust of wind."
This kind of thing has happened countless times, and there have been countless calls to boycott "products that insult China" on the Internet, but the effect is not significant.
But this time it’s not just the private sector, the government has also taken action.
First, e-commerce, all channels from Rakuten have removed them from the shelves.
More than 20 citizens gathered at the entrance of a Lotte Mart in Jilin and held up a banner to protest: "Lotte supports THAAD, get out of China immediately!"
In Dandong, four Lotte Mart stores were inspected by fire fighters and immediately closed down.
In Hangzhou, Huainan, Anhui, Suzhou, Anhui, Changzhou, Jiangsu and other places, stores were closed due to fire protection problems. Later, in just one month, 67 shopping malls were closed.
Lotte has taken the initiative to close 20 more stores, which means that 90% of the shopping malls are closed, resulting in a monthly loss of at least 600 million yuan.
In addition, airlines have suspended flights to South Korea, travel agencies have canceled trips to South Korea, and Korean entertainment circles, sports circles and various people have been prevented from visiting China.
The intensity is unprecedented.
But as we all know, South Korea cannot disobey its American father. The deployment of THAAD has been completed after all. Except for the Korean restriction order, which will be in effect until the end of the year, tourism has returned to normal.
Rakuten sold shopping malls one after another during this wave of counterattacks, until 2022, when it disbanded its China headquarters and almost withdrew from the domestic market.
However, it is said that there are quite a lot of snacks under the brand that are still sold in China, but I’m not sure about this.
…………
boom!
On a plane flying from Singapore to South Korea, Yu Jiajia leaned her head back on the seat, closed her eyes and took a nap. The 4-hour trip was enough for her to get some sleep.
There were about a dozen people in the rows of seats behind her, all from the traveling team.
There was a girl in her late teens, with a unique appearance and temperament. Her name was Xilinnayi Gao, a Uyghur. She was born in the capital and grew up in Singapore.
Professionals who graduated from Berklee College of Music.
Last year, she participated in "The Voice of China" and won second place, so she was arrested by Yu Jiajia.
"Hey, why do you think we went to South Korea for training?"
“Korea is a major in cultivating idols!”
"But now if we are against South Korea, will we be in danger?"
"What's the danger? You didn't see so many bodyguards? And I heard..."
Xilinnayi glanced at Yu Jiajia and whispered: "The company we went to this time is also part of our group. It is an internal training, so nothing will happen."
"Where did you hear that?"
Yu Jiajia suddenly interjected.
"Yu, Mr. Yu!!"
"Where did you hear that?" she asked again.
"I, I heard an assistant sister say something accidentally, and I remembered it."
Xilinna responded uneasily. There was no movement in front of her. After a few seconds, she heard "Oh", and then there was no movement again.
"call!"
She patted her chest and signaled to her friends with her expression: I'm scared to death!
My friends also responded with expressions, which scared us to death!
There are a total of seven girls here, all of them are under 20 years old, fair-skinned, beautiful, and extremely outstanding. They are all good prospects recruited by 99 Entertainment from home and abroad.
Not finished products like Cheng Xiao and Wu Xuanyi, but semi-finished products with potential.
Yu Jiajia personally led the team and sent them to South Korea for training. Although they were beautiful and delicious, they were too tender. Boss Yu never liked girls who were too tender, except for Jinsha at the beginning.
4 hours pass in the blink of an eye.
The plane landed at Seoul Airport, and when going through customs, the staff looked at it several times when they saw it was a Chinese passport, but didn't say anything.
The uproar against South Korea and restrictions on South Korea do not seem to have affected public life.
"Director Yu!"
"President Kim!"
Jin Minyong came to pick him up, and during the greeting he made it clear the hierarchical status of both parties. Yu Jiajia is a senior executive of Hugelive and holds shares, while Jin Minyong is just the general manager of South Korea.
Everyone got in the car and soon arrived at the downstairs of an apartment.
Going upstairs again, this is a dormitory for girls. Yu Jiajia looked at the environment. Seven people lived together, but the room was relatively large and not too crowded.
She called the girls over and lectured: "South Korea has the most complete and rigorous idol training system. You will stay here for 2 years. I have already told you the goal.
I have equipped you with assistants and security, and the conditions are a hundred times better than those of local trainees. I only say one thing, don't live up to my expectations!"
"I know, Mr. Yu!"
The seven people answered together, their voices crisp and pleasant.
Yu Jiajia didn't wait too long, walked around and went down. Jin Minyong accompanied her to a luxurious hotel again, with luxurious suites, which were simply heaven and earth compared to before.
Yu Jiajia talked about the matter directly, saying: "We are going to launch a girl group show in China this year, and it will be released on Hugelive. The initial model is to let girl groups across the country submit their members, go through auditions and screenings, and keep the relative
If you have potential, it’s best if you can exceed 100.”
"A hundred-member girl group variety show?"
Jin Minyong was startled.
"That's right, then there is the first period, which shows dancing, singing or special talents, and is graded by the instructor, from Class A to Class F. They live in a dormitory, train intensively, and learn a song and dance in three days.
Then perform a performance and be evaluated again.
Those who perform poorly in Class A may be demoted to Class F, and those who perform well in Class F may be promoted to Class A... After several rounds of assessments, they will be gradually eliminated, and finally a few will be selected to form the most popular girl group."
"There are similar programs in South Korea, but they will never have the courage to do a battle of 100 people like yours. Our financial resources and market are too limited in all aspects."
Jin Minyong sighed and asked: "So these girls you brought are just to prepare for the show. Huh? Didn't you say that they have been training for 2 years?"