Woo Jang-choon

Woo Jang-choon is often given credit for being the inventor of the seedless watermelon. That’s actually the work of another brainy scientist named, H. Kihara Don’t be disappointed though, Woo Jang-choon made a huge impact on botany with his seemingly ceaseless work.

He was born in Japan to a Japanese mother and a Korean father which he was discriminated for. His father, Woo Beom-seon, was said to have fled Korea after what’s called the Eulmi Incident in 1895 in which he evidently worked with Japanese nationals to assassinate Empress Myeongseon. Crown Prince Sunjong would send assassins to Japan to avenge the Empress in 1903. Woo-Jang choon was 11 when his father was killed leaving him and his mother destitute. His mother would leave him at a Buddhist temple orphanage for 3 years while she worked to earn money.

Despite what he was up against Woo Jang-choon made his way to Tokyo Imperial University studying agriculture. After graduating he began teaching at the University and then working for the Ministry of Agriculture making a name for himself early on because of his research on everything from morning glories to the double-flowered petunia. He was still met with some adversity due to his Korean ancestry, especially during the time of Japan’s occupation of Korea. During that period he was relegated to certain areas of the University. When offered a promotion, he was expected to change his Korean name, but he declined. He spent WW2 working and teaching at the research farm known as Takiyi as well as Tokyo U.

In 1945, Korea won independence and Woo-Jang choon resigned from Takiyi farm and the University. Around this time Korean President Yi Seung-man began campaigning for Woo-Jang choon to move to Korea. Because of the war, Korea was left with no seed, no technology to produce seed, and was forced to buy seed at steep prices from Japan. It looked like a good opportunity but his Japanese citizenship barred him from leaving for Korea so, one day he turned himself into a Japanese immigration dept. and got himself deported.

And then the Korean War broke out (terrible luck, right?), fortunately for him, he was outside of the conflict’s way in the city of Busan. He began the mass production of seeds and worked to improve the seeds for the highest yields. He made breakthroughs like a germ-resistant potato, developing the Jeju tangerine, improving seeds like napa cabbage and cucumbers, etc., etc. He started the first hydroponics facility in the country. In order to improve or beautify the roads and countryside he began a project of planting Cosmos flowers which are now naturalized in South Korea. The guy never slept.

In 1959 he was suffering from some unknown ailment. Seriously though, all the write-ups about him and they all just say he started to get pains and his body deteriorated over the course of a year or so. He was hospitalized at the age of 61. His wife, still barred from entering Korea, was eventually granted the right to enter Korea to see him. Woo Jang-choon was awarded a medal by the minister of agriculture on his hospital bed for his innumerable accomplishments shortly before he passed away.

If you’re inclined to be paranoid like many these days, you might think it’s fishy that he died so young, and then all that assassin and self-deportation stuff probably exacerbated your tendencies to form a ridiculous conspiracy theory–but you’ll be relieved to know you’re just being a little crazy because the life expectancy of men in South Korea in 1959 was around 53 (that sounds wrong). Alright, you most likely weren’t thinking any of that…I was. Sorry. I’ll show myself the door.