High Drama at Lotte World Tower: Fear, Vanity, and Greed

Walking out on to the Sky Deck at Lotte World Tower was terrifying. I did it, but I did not look down. Our recent visit to the tower took us to dizzying heights, but also led us to explore how and why the tower was built and the soap-opera story of the Lotte tycoon and his family.

Lotte (low-tay) World Tower is currently the world’s fifth tallest building. It stretches 556 meters (1823 feet) into the air and is the tallest building on the Korean peninsula. By comparison, its roof line is a bit higher than the pinnacle of One World Trade Center in NYC.

Compared to other super-tall buildings, Lotte Tower’s observation deck is impressively high; its 123rd floor gives a view that is 500 meters (1640 feet) above the Seoul skyline. This observation deck height is only superseded by the two mega-towers in China: the Shanghai Tower and the Ping An Finance Center, both with observation decks at 562 m. Many super-tall buildings, such as the world’s-tallest Burj Kalifa, have hundreds of meters of structure above where anyone can visit. (This discrepancy between pinnacle and highest usable floor is called vanity height for obvious reasons.) Indeed if you were to visit the Burj Kalifa’s observation deck you would be looking out at 452 m (1,483 ft) with nearly 45% (376 m) of the tower’s height above you!

However, at Lotte World Tower if plonck down your 27,000 won (~$23) at the Sky Seoul desk, you can zip up to the 117^th floor and then explore the top six floors (floors 117-123). The elevator ride is quite impressive. It is super fast; rising at 10 m/s means you reach the top in less than a minute.  Its inside is entirely filled with LCD screens that show outdoor photography and clever animations as the elevator rises — a nice touch.

We visited just after opening time in the morning and had the observation areas mostly to ourselves. The humid haze is in full effect here in August, but it was clear enough to get a sense of how big Seoul really is. It sprawls out in every direction with only the mountainous terrain, parks, and waterways to break up the endless neighborhoods of high-rise apartment buildings. In one area we used a big interactive LCD screen to identify the area landmarks, many of which we had recently visited.

The piece de resistance is the Sky Deck on the 118 floor (478 m, 1568 ft). It is basically a large glass floor jutting out over the side of the building that you can walk out onto — but only if you dare! I am not usually ill at ease in tall buildings, although I do have a fear of heights. Normally however if I am behind glass, I don’t really feel the grip of fear in my stomach. Walking out on to the Sky Deck is a different story! Standing at the edge of the glass floor area I had to steel my resolve for quite a while before I stepped out — keeping my eyes firmly locked on the horizon. Try as I might, I could not bring myself to look down. Instead, I let the camera do the heavy lifting and pointed it at my feet without looking through the viewfinder.

Emily was less afraid and posed for me on the glass floor as I comfortably stood on the normal nontransparent section of floor. Meanwhile a little boy — probably about nine years old — boldly walked out onto the glass and began to jump up and down. He cackled with laughter as his mother and little sister squealed in terror.

The Lotte World Tower opened to the public in 2017, fulfilling a promise made by the Lotte Group founder Shin Kyuk-Ho. Shin built Lotte Group into Korea’s fifth-largest business conglomerate, of which he remained chairman of the board until 2017. Korea is famous for such family-run conglomerates, or chaebol (such as Samsung, Hyundai, and LG). His personal life and the rise of the Lotte corporation, first in Japan and then in Korea, is a fascinating rags-to-riches story. The Lotte brand is everywhere you look in Korea, from Lotte convenience stores to grocery stores to fancy department stores and to the Lotte World theme park which is visible just below the Lotte World Tower.

Despite these great accomplishments, Shin’s legacy was tarnished at the end of his life, even as his health was failing. His two sons battled each other for control of the company. The younger son Dong-Bin ended up wresting control of the company away from the older son Dong-Joo, Shin’s chosen heir. Soon after, criminal investigations resulted in the indictment and subsequent conviction of the elder Shin for embezzlement. Shin was sentenced to four years but was deemed too sick to serve any time. Dong-bin was also convicted in the scandal, but received a suspended sentence.

Only months later Shin Dong-Bin was again swept up in the massive bribery scandal that brought down the Korean president through a dramatic impeachment. He served a few months in prison before an appeals court upheld his conviction but released him early on a suspended sentence. He remains CEO of Lotte Group to this day. Such suspended sentences seem to be common for chaebol CEOs to the outrage of many.

It is not surprising then that these dramatic real-life events have provided inspiration to Korean writers. Even though we have only seen a few Korean TV shows thus far, we have already noticed that they often feature squabbling chaebol families whose back-biting members mastermind ruthless business deals, bend or break the law regularly, and cling to power despite prison sentences. It is captivating drama — ripped from the headlines.

Shin Kyuk-ho passed away in January 2020. At 98 he was the last of the original chaebol tycoons. Many credit these tycoons with masterminding the miraculous rise of modern Korea from the ashes of the Korean War. Lotte World Tower is an impressive landmark that adds a futuristic touch to the Seoul skyline. Lotte Group wants the tower to become as synonymous with Seoul as the Empire State building is with New York City. Despite the complicated legacy of the Lotte founder and its current CEO, the Lotte Tower is certainly impressive, especially at night when the lights that crisscross its lantern-shaped pinnacle change colors in a mesmerizing display.

Full size versions of all the photos above, plus more, can be seen at my Flickr page.