(Yicai Global) Jan. 10 -- Lotte Group has reaffirmed plans to divest its stores in China despite media reports in South Korea that it could reopen them, Global Times reported yesterday.

The company remains unaware of any plans to resume operations at any of its stores and the sell-off plan remains unchanged, the report cited an industry insider as saying.

Lotte Mart China had received instructions from Lotte Group late last year to resume business in some of the stores, recent reports said. The firm's Chinese outlets closed following worsening business performance following the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea and breaches of fire safety and sanitation regulations.

Talks between China and South Korea at the end of 2017 were successful in warming ties between the two countries and heightened speculation that the firm is pushing for the re-opening of stores.

"Lotte has been communicating with relevant departments on resuming business, and they will reopen as soon as the issues are settled," South Korean news outlet Aju Business Daily previously cited the head of the South Korean Embassy in China as saying.

The embassy was unavailable for comment yesterday afternoon.