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Several natural species of beans, red beans, red peppers, cabbages and other plants indigenous to Korea but which have become extinct here, will be returned from the U.S. They total 34 varieties and 1,679 items. The seeds were gathered by American diplomats and civilians who worked in Korea during the Korean Empire (1897-1910). Seeking to restore the genetic source of indigenous but extinct plants, Korea¡¯s Rural Development Administration requested the U.S. government to return them.
The Korean peninsula is home to around 4,000 types of plant species. Compared to its relatively small land mass, the peninsula is home to a wide variety due to its climate that varies from temperate to frigid. That¡¯s why the world¡¯s powers began systematically gathering plant species from the area since the Korean Empire. Many strains slipped out of the country during the Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War.
There have been many instances where Korean plant species were improved upon and became world-class products that we ended up importing back. Beans originating on the Korean peninsula and Manchuria went over to the U.S. to be modified to fit U.S. climactic conditions and became globally popular product -- and America became a global exporter of beans. Among the 6,000 Korean plant species collected and sent to the U.S., beans account for 3,500. That shows how much effort the U.S. put into gathering Korean beans.
The ancestor of the Sonora type of wheat that saved India and Pakistan from starvation in the late 1960s was indigenous Korean wheat. Japan took Korean wheat and created new varieties, which were taken to Mexico to be further improved to become "Sonora." The "Miss Kim" lilac, which is the most popular type of that flower today, was the result of improvements made on a seed collected from a tree in Bukhan Mountain in northern Seoul by a researcher with the U.S. military in 1947. Korean fir trees, which are popular as Christmas trees, are indigenous to our country and were sent over to Europe in the early 20th century.
But while we were so busy raising high-yield varieties of imported plants, we were unaware of the indigenous species that were becoming extinct. We were unaware of the fact that wild Korean plants, such as the day lily, lily, and plantain lily, were being sold at expensive prices after being developed into orchids. It was only last month that a law was passed banning the transport of agricultural seeds out of Korea without government approval.
Being an advanced nation means being capable of paying attention to such issues before others do. The seeds returning from the U.S. should serve as a painful wake-up call for Korea.
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