SEOUL:  Founder of Lotte Group Shin Kyuk-ho, 98, who founded his company by manufacturing chewing gum in 1948 in Japan died on Sunday.

He succeeded in establishing his business into South Korea’s No.5 conglomerate ranging from retail to chemicals, according to Reuters.

Lotte was founded as a chewing gum maker in Japan by Shin. He then moved to South Korea when the Korean peninsula was under Japanese colonial rule.