SEOUL: South Korea's Lotte Group will continue to invest in its China business despite rising diplomatic tensions over the deployment of a US missile defence system, a high-ranking Lotte executive said on Monday. Hwang Kag-gyu, head of Lotte Corporate Innovation Office, also told reporters that the initial public offering of Hotel Lotte will depend on its key duty-free business recovering from 'THAAD effect'. Chinese authorities last month closed dozens of Lotte retail stores following inspections, ramping up pressure on the conglomerate after it agreed to provide land for the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system outside Seoul in response to North Korea's missile threat.