Woo Jang-choon
| Woo Jang-choon |
Woo Jang-choon in his 40s.
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| Japanese name |
| Kanji |
禹 長春 |
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| Alternate Japanese name |
| Kanji |
須永長春 |
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| Korean name |
| Hangul |
우장춘 |
| Hanja |
禹長春 |
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Woo Jang-choon (April 8, 1898 – August 10, 1959) was a Korean-Japanese agricultural scientist and botanist famous for breeding plants. He is credited in scientific literature as "U Nagaharu", where "U" is a Korean reading of his Korean family name (禹) but "Nagaharu" is a Japanese reading of the Chinese characters in his Korean given name (長春). Woo was born and raised in Japan, overcoming poverty and discrimination in Imperial Japan to become a prominent researcher and teacher. When Korea was freed of Japanese rule in 1945, Woo left his family in Japan, and traveled to Korea to lead the country's efforts in botany and agriculture. There is a memorial museum in the port city of Busan where he lived and worked in Korea, honoring his life and accomplishments.
Woo was born on April 8, 1898, in either Akasaka, Tokyo or Hiroshima, and raised in Kure, Hiroshima, he was the first son of a Korean father, Woo Beom-seon (禹範善; 우범선) and a Japanese mother, Sakai Naka (酒井 仲). Woo Beom-seon served as the commander of the first battalion of the Hullyeondae (a Japanese-trained Korean military force) during the late period of the Joseon dynasty and had sought political asylum in Japan. He was involved in the Gaehwapa movement (a modernization faction), and was suspected of involvement in The Eulmi Incident, the assassination of the Korean Queen Min and the murder of two other women in 1895. Fifty-six Japanese nationals were arrested and tried on suspicion of involvement, but acquitted in a Japanese court due to lack of evidence. Meanwhile, Queen Min's son, Prince Sunjong, accused Woo Beom-seon of complicity in the murders and Woo Beom-seon fled to Japan.
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