In Business News, the Korea Tourism Association has threatened to boycott Lotte Corporation if it forms a partnership with Japanese travel agency JTB. Here’s what Yonhap News said in English:

South Korean travel organizations called on Lotte Group Tuesday to postpone a joint venture with a Japanese travel agency, saying it could force smaller industry players out of the market.

The retail giant plans to set up the travel joint venture between its affiliate online retailer Lotte.com and Japanese travel agency JTB by the end of this month. The company will be capitalized at 5 billion won (US$ 5.3 million), according to Lotte.

Lotte said the joint venture will start operations on July 1, aiming to attract 1.2 million outbound South Korean tourists by 2011.

The travel groups, including the Korea Tourism Association, said in a news conference that the envisioned entry could force about 10,000 small and mid-sized South Korean travel agencies to go bankrupt.

“If JTB begins to sell air tickets and tour products at below-market prices to South Korean overseas travelers, it will deal a blow to the smaller companies as well as the entire industry,” said Shin Joong-mok, chairman of the association.

“We will launch a campaign to boycott Lotte’s products unless the group accepts our requests,” Shin added.

However, a Japanese language version of the story, which was posted on the Chosun Ilbo website, reveals a statement by Shin Joong-mok (head of the government funded organization) which was left out of Yonhap’s English version of the story:

“Lotte has hurt the pride of the Korean people by getting involved with the Japanese travel agency [JTB]“

Lotte was founded in 1948 by Shin Kyuk-Ho, a Korean resident of Japan and 1946 graduate of Waseda University. Lotte Group began in South Korea in 1966.