Line was designed by 15 members of New Human Network (NHN) Japan's development team, composed of Korean, Japanese, Chinese and American engineers.
The idea of Line communication system was proposed to NHN Japan by Lee Hae Jin, the Chief Strategy Officer of NHN. It first launched in Japan in 2011, reaching 100 million users within eighteen months and 200 million users only six months later.
Line began in 2011 as the brainchild of engineers at NHN Japan, the Japanese arm of Naver Corporation (formerly NHN) based in South Korea. Today the popular messaging service is operated by Line Corporation, a spinoff company headquartered in Japan, which still remains a subsidiary of Naver.