Hanoi (Yonhap/VNA) – The Republic of Korea (RoK)’sretailers are accelerating their push to tap deeper into the Southeast Asianmarket after they suffered a serious setback in China in the face of Beijing'seconomic retaliation over Seoul's deployment of a US anti-missile system,industry watchers said on October 15. 

On October 10, Lotte Group, the RoK’s fifth-largestconglomerate, opened an online shopping mall in Indonesia together with localconglomerate Salim Group. 

The Korean firm said it set up a joint venture to combineLotte's retail know-how with the local company's distribution channel to grab achunk of the rapidly growing e-commerce market in the Southeast Asian country.

The announcement follows Lotte's decision to withdraw itsdiscount store business from China.

Lotte was hit the hardest by the neighboring country'sretaliatory measures among others, after signing a land-swap deal with theSeoul government last year to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense(THAAD) system. 

According to Lotte, 87 out of 99, or 87.9 percent, of itshypermarket chain Lotte Mart stores in China have suspended operations as of October11. 

Lotte Mart said its sales in China plunged 64.7 percenton-year in the first eight months of this year to 410 billion won (362 millionUSD) from 1.16 trillion won tallied during the same period a year earlier.

Meanwhile, it currently operates 45 discount stores inIndonesia and plans to open one more in December.

Lotte is also making aggressive inroads into the Vietnamesemarket, building a 200,000 square meter shopping complex in Hanoi with aninvestment of 330 billion won. The construction is slated to be completed by2020.

Shinsegae, another major retailer here, is also at theforefront of making a foray into the Southeast Asian countries.

E-Mart, the country's No. 1 hypermarket chain underShinsegae, recently signed a deal with a Thai company to sell off five of itssix stores in China, effectively ending its 20-year presence in the world's No.2 economy. 

It is now preparing to open its second store in Vietnam,after launching the first in December 2015. 

In late August, Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jinsaid there will be a "surprise announcement" regarding its overseasbusinesses in the first half of next year, adding the company is eyeing anumber of Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, forits overseas push. 

CJ Cheiljedang Corp., the RoK’s leading processed foodsmaker, is also building a new production complex in Ho Chi Minh City with a 70billion won investment. 

The affiliate of the country's food and entertainmentconglomerate CJ said it views Vietnam as the outpost for the expansion of itsbusinesses in the Southeast Asian market. 

"The retail industry in Southeast Asia is still veryyoung, and in the case of Vietnam, more than half of the country's populationare aged 35 or under as of last year, making it all the more attractive tobegin overseas expansion," an industry source said.-VNA