Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin on Tuesday vowed to invest some 40 trillion won and hire 70-thousand people for the five years following 2017 as part of efforts to reform the conglomerate. 
 
In a news conference held at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, Shin unveiled plans to set up a law-abiding management committee to keep the company in check and prevent any irregularities from arising from the start.

Shin also issued a personal apology to the Korean people over problems cited during a prosecutors’ probe on corruption allegations against his family and business group. Ahead of the news conference, Shin, along with the heads of Lotte’s 23 key subsidiaries, bowed their heads in unison.

The conference marked the chairman's first public appearance since prosecutors wrapped up the investigation into the conglomerate, which resulted in five members of Lotte's founding family and 19 other senior officials charged with corruption and other business offenses.

Tuesday's apology comes after a little over a year since Shin apologized to the South Korean public for his family feud over control of the conglomerate and pledged to revamp the group.