Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-bin has unveiled a plan to conduct the largest ever restructuring of the group's retail outlets in South Korea as part of efforts to start anew.

In an interview with Japan’s Nihon Keizai Shimbun on Thursday, Shin said they will shutter 200 supermarkets, department stores and discount outlets with low profitability within the year.  

Shin said Lotte was scrapping all the success it acquired in the past with its offline stores as part of the group's rebirth.

The daily said Shin apparently reached the decision after concluding that existing business methods no longer work.  

The report noted Lotte Group’s key business, Lotte Shopping, saw its operating profit shrink by a third over the past five years, due to a prolonged slump in consumption in the South Korean market and heated competition with other online shopping malls.  

It was the first interview Shin has given since he received a suspended sentence last October for his involvement in an influence-peddling scandal that resulted in the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye.