China has threatened some of South Korea’s largest companies over Seoul’s decision to deploy a US ballistic missile shield, according to several people briefed on the conversations.
Samsung and Lotte Group were among companies warned by a foreign ministry official during a visit to Seoul last week that their China business could suffer because of the Korean stance.
South Korean officials labelled a visit by Chen Hai, the ministry’s deputy director-general of the department of Asian affairs, as “highly irregular”. They said he ignored requests to postpone the trip until the new year and did not pay a courtesy call to his counterparts at the foreign ministry in Seoul.