Lee Hae-jin
Founder of Naver, South Korea’s leading search engine
- Age
- 59 yrs
- Birthday in 228 days
- Works listed
- 0
- Career highlights
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
- Profile views
- 5
- 0 followers
Lee Hae-jin is a South Korean entrepreneur who founded Naver in 1999, which became South Korea’s dominant search portal, beating Google there. Naver also created the Line messaging app, popular in Japan, and Webtoon, the world’s largest digital comics platform.
Biography
Samsung SDS
Lee studied computer science at Seoul National University and KAIST and worked at Samsung SDS, where he developed Naver as an internal venture.
Naver
He spun off Naver in 1999. Its “Knowledge iN” Q&A service, launched in 2002, gave it local content Google lacked.
Line and Webtoon
Naver’s Japanese unit launched Line in 2011 after the Fukushima disaster. Webtoon grew into a global comics platform and listed on the Nasdaq in 2024.
Global push
Lee has led Naver’s investments in AI, including the HyperCLOVA models.
Timeline
-
1967
Born in South Korea
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1992
Joins Samsung SDS
-
1999
Founds Naver
-
2002
Knowledge iN
-
2011
Line launched
-
2024
Webtoon IPO
Did you know?
-
1
Naver is one of the few search engines to beat Google in its home market.
-
2
Line was built in about two months.
-
3
He keeps a low public profile.
Connections
Frequently asked
Who is Lee Hae-jin?
Lee Hae-jin is a South Korean entrepreneur who founded Naver in 1999, which became South Korea’s dominant search portal, beating Google there. Naver also created the Line messaging app, popular in Japan, and Webtoon, the world’s largest digital comics platform.
How old is Lee Hae-jin?
Lee Hae-jin is 59 years old, born on 22 June 1967 in South Korea.
Where is Lee Hae-jin from?
Lee Hae-jin was born in South Korea.
What is Lee Hae-jin known for?
Lee Hae-jin is best known for Founding Naver (1999); Line messaging app; Webtoon.
References
- Lee Hae-jin — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Lee Hae-jin (Q12613095) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Lee Hae-jin”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
External links
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Lee Hae-jin.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/lee-hae-jin
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