Lotte Holdings Co., the Japan-based holding company of Lotte Group, began a shareholder meeting in Tokyo on Monday, an event deemed crucial in deciding the fate of the founder's two sons who are mired in a succession feud.

Lotte, the country's fifth-largest conglomerate that was founded in Japan, has been making headlines in the past few weeks as founder Shin Kyuk-ho and his two sons, Dong-joo and Dong-bin, are fighting to control the group that operates businesses located in both South Korea and Japan.

Dong-bin, the younger son who controls the group's businesses in the country, is viewed as sparring against his father and brother, who claim that the elder sibling should succeed the 93-year-old founder as head of the conglomerate.

In Monday's shareholder meeting, participants were set to discuss agenda items such as hiring an external board of directors and improving the group's corporate governance structure. Both agenda items are part of a bigger reform plan proposed by Dong-bin in his national apology last week.

While the agenda items on the table are irrelevant from the management dispute, the fact that those agenda items were raised by Dong-bin have raised views that the result of the temporary shareholder meeting will indicate the younger son's prowess among group executives and shareholders. (Yonhap)