Lotte's first company was founded in June 1948 in Tokyo, Japan by a Japanese businessman of Korean descent, known as Shin Kyuk-Ho in Korean, or Shigemitsu Takeo (重光 武雄?) in Japanese, two years after graduating from Waseda Jitsugyo high School (早稲田実業学校). Originally called Lotte Co., Ltd, the company has grown from selling chewing gum to children in post-war Japan to becoming a major multinational corporation. Lotte expanded into South Korea with the establishment of Lotte Confectionary Co., Ltd in Seoul on April 3, 1967.