Woo Jang-choon (우장춘) was a world-renowned plant breeder who worked in Japan. As an agronomist researching breeding science, a field that combined genetics and crop improvement, he conducted research from 1937 at the research farm of Takii Seed Company in Japan, where he worked on improving vegetable seeds such as cabbage, radish, and Chinese cabbage. As a result, he developed many excellent vegetable seed varieties.
In 1950, some people of vision sought to bring Woo Jang-choon to Korea, because the country’s rural communities were in great distress. After liberation on August 15, Korean farming villages suffered from food shortages. To resolve this, it was necessary to develop superior seeds that could enable large-scale production of crops, but Korea had no capable researchers. During the Japanese colonial era, Korea had imported Japanese agricultural seeds, but after liberation, that supply was cut off, making it impossible to obtain them. Thus, in order to revive the countryside through superior seed development and resolve the food crisis, Woo Jang-choon was invited to Korea.
