South Korea officially Wednesday requested China to allow the Lotte Group, the country's fifth-largest conglomerate, to continue its business in China amid the political stand-off between the two countries.

 “The Lotte Mart suspension has lasted for nearly a month, causing serious problems for business management, so we made a formal request to the Chinese government in the name of Ambassador Kim (Jang-soo),” a South Korean Embassy official told Yonhap news agency, referring to the country's top envoy to Beijing. 

The official added that the letter was sent to the relevant departments, including the foreign and commerce ministries on Tuesday.

Following its decision to swap land for the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system despite Beijing’s warnings, Lotte’s business has faced an inevitable decline in its largest overseas market.

It is reported that its 99 outlets in China, accounting for 80% of Lotte’s stores in the country, have been closed in one month. If so, Lotte could suffer a loss of US$104 million, said Yonhap, citing industry estimates.

The conglomerate is attempting to please Chinese customers by all means.

Chairman Shin Dong-bin said he “loves that country (China),” during an interview last week, adding that they “definitely” want to continue their business in China.

However, Chinese don’t seem to buy it because the THAAD system is considered as a threat to the China’s security interests.