CHEWING-GUM maker and retail giant Lotte Group, South Korea’s No. 5 business group, took the brunt of the backlash after agreeing to let one of its golf courses in southeastern South Korea be a site for deploying THAAD. Lotte Duty Free said its shopping websites were knocked offline for more than six hours a few days after the agreement was signed, in what it believes were cyberattacks by Chinese.

    At least 55 of 99 Lotte Mart discount stores in China were shut in early March for a month each after inspections found violations of fire safety standards. Five Lotte department stores and 13 smaller supermarkets remain open, the company said last week.

    A Hershey chocolate factory in Shanghai jointly operated with Lotte suspended production earlier this month for what Hershey said was maintenance for a routine inspection but South Koreans linked it to the spat.

    K-pop, K-drama

    Since last year, some K-pop and K-drama stars have canceled visits to China due to visa delays. South Korean actor Ha Jung-woo could not get a visa needed for a movie project with China called “The Mask,” starring Chinese star Zhang Ziyi, his agency confirmed Wednesday. The representative for Ha, who was not authorized to talk about the matter and thus asked not to be identified, would not say if the project fell through because of the THAAD problem.

    Regional satellite broadcasters have reportedly suspended broadcasts of South Korean television dramas. Online distributors such as Youku have stopped buying broadcast rights to South Korean shows.

    In January, South Korean soprano Jo Sumi said her concert in China was canceled, possibly due to the diplomatic spat.

    “I had been preparing for since I got the invitation two years ago, but there was no word on why it was canceled,” Jo, a Grammy Award-winning soprano, said on Twitter.

    Soccer

    China and South Korea play each other in the central Chinese city of Changsha on Thursday. China reportedly refused to let the team take a chartered flight. That could leave them at a disadvantage, and also limit the number of supporters they can bring.

    Tough on tourism

    Effective March 15, China told travel agencies not to sell group tour packages to South Korea. Instead, Chinese must seek visas individually. Both Italy’s Costa and Royal Caribbean Cruises have canceled port calls in South Korea by their cruises originating in China. One place likely to be hit hardest is the southern island of Jeju, where shops and travel agencies rely on Chinese tourists. An anonymous official with Jeju’s immigration office said that as of Thursday no cruises from China were calling at the semi-tropical island.

    South Korean airliners are cutting flights to and from China as reservations drop. (SD-Agencies)