Lotte Gets OK to Build 2nd Lotte World in Seoul

The Lotte Group got the green light yesterday to build the second Lotte World complex in Seoul`s southern district of Songpa.

A joint committee of government officials and civilian experts in a meeting said that if the Lotte World skyscraper is built as planned, no problems are expected at Seoul Airport in the southern Seoul suburb of Seongnam.

The committee also decided to lift the height limit set on the building in 2003 of 203 meters.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will allow Lotte to build the second Lotte World to rise 112 stories high, or 555 meters tall. This is conditional, however, on Lotte and the Air Force signing an agreement on changing the angle of a Seoul Airport runway by three degrees to ensure flight safety around the facility and build equipment and installations around the runway.

Aircraft using Seoul Airport must also have safety equipment on board, while the conglomerate is being urged to install a warning system in the second Lotte World. Lotte will pay for all the facilities, carry out the construction to change the runway angle, and donate the facilities to the Air Force.

The conglomerate must also complement its equipment and facilities before the structure rises above 203 meters to ensure construction work on very high floors after taking flight safety measures.

At the meeting, the Defense Ministry and the city government decided to check if Lotte will implement the agreement faithfully. They have the authority to order Lotte to stop construction work if the conglomerate fails to implement the agreement.

Lotte expects the construction to cost 1.7 trillion won (1.24 billion U.S. dollars) and create 23,000 jobs.

Ahn Kyu-baek, a lawmaker of the opposition Democratic Party, said he will seek to file an injunction against the decision.

kimkihy@donga.com