Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-Ho admitted for psychiatric test

Ailing Lotte founder Shin Kyuk-Ho, 95, has been admitted to a Seoul hospital for a mental competency evaluation of which results would be crucial to help conclude his two sons' battle to take control of the entire Lotte empire.

The psychiatric test is a part of the ongoing suit brought by Shin's younger sister Shin Jung-Sook last December, who claimed that her big brother's deteriorating mental state requires a legal guardian for him.

Since last year, Lotte Group Chairman Shin Dong-Bin and his elder brother Shin Dong-Joo have been embroiled in a protracted mudslinging feud over the group's full managerial control.

The elder, stripped of his senior posts in the Tokyo-based Lotte Holdings, claims that he has been named the legitimate successor by the senior Shin.