Shin Kyuk-ho, founder of South Korea's Lotte Group, died at age 99 on Sunday due to a chronic illness, according to local media reports.

Yonhap reported that Shin died at 4:30 p.m. local time at Asan Medical Center in eastern Seoul. 

Shin founded Lotte in Japan as a chewing gum manufacturer in 1948. Since then, the group has grown into South Korea's fifth-largest conglomerate and is now one of the most well-known corporate names in South Korea and Japan.

(Cover: File photo)