Lotte's business homepages under suspected Chinese cyber attack

By Park Sae-jin Posted : March 2, 2017, 17:29 Updated : March 2, 2017, 17:30
 

[Courtesy of Lotte Duty-Free]


South Korea expressed concern at China's apparent trade retaliation over an advanced US missile shield Thursday as the homepage of Lotte's duty-free online store was down because of a suspected cyber attack.

The South's foreign ministry urged China to exercise restraint in handling a thorny diplomat row over the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system that has soured relations between Asia's major trading partners.

"We feel regrettable over calls among some Chinese (people) that our firms should be put at a disadvantage," foreign ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck told reporters, adding Seoul would not change its policy.

Lotte Duty-Free, a cash cow of South Korea's fifth-largest Lotte Group, said its four-language website for online customers -- Korean, Japanese, Chinese and English -- was crippled completely for three hours following a suspected DDoS attack that began at noon. The homepage was restored but traffic remains slow.

DDoS is a type of a Denial of Service (Dos) attack targeting a single system usually out of malice. Lotte runs the country's largest duty-free business with its annual sales estimated at six trillion won (5.2 billion US dollars) last year, helped by big Chinese spenders.

Lotte Group's homepage in China remained paralyzed Thursday, two days after it pushed ahead with a land swap deal to let US troops install a THAAD battery in its golf course in Seongju some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southeast of Seoul. Lotte said the disruption was caused by a virus planted by hackers.

Beijing said the US missile shield would "seriously" hurt strategic interests of China and other countries as well as the security balance in Northeast Asia.

Chinese media has warned Lotte would face strong retaliatory steps such as a buyer's strike from angry Chinese consumers and tourists. Since the land swap deal was proposed in September last year, Lotte's business in China has been in trouble.

The retail giant heavily depends on Chinese consumers and tourists. Last year, about 70 percent of income at its duty-free stores came from Chinese visitors. Total sales at Lotte's business outlets in China were estimated at 3.2 trillion won.

China's e-commerce giant JD.com Inc. abruptly deleted its section on Lotte Mart, effectively stopping the sale of household, beauty, fashion and electronics goods to Chinese consumers, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency said.

"Chinese consumers should become the main force in teaching Seoul a lesson, punishing the nation through the power of the market," China's Global Times said in an editorial on Wednesday.

Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
 
기사 이미지 확대 보기
닫기