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KMID : 0385320080190010059
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Journal of Korean Psychoanalytic Society
2008 Volume.19 No. 1 p.59 ~ p.68
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A Psychoanalytic Comment on Woo Jang-Choon and the Seedless Watermelon
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Lee Byung-Wook
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Abstract
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Most Korean people today only remembers Dr. Woo Jang-Choon(1898-1959) as the first inventor of the seedless watermelon, but this was not true. Although he was a renowned agricultural scientist and botanist, but his life was very unhappy and tragic. He was born in Japan, and died in Korea. His Korean father Woo Bum-Sun was sent into exile just after he was found to be involved in the assassination of the Korean empress by the Japanese in 1895. He sought political asylum in Japan,andremarrieda Japanese woman Sakai Naka. However, he was soon killed by a Korean assassin, and his wife, Sakailefthersonin an orphanage temporarily so that she could make a living. Woo Jang-Choon was discriminated against by the other Japanese children because he was part Korean. He had to stay in the orphanage until his mother returned to get him. Nevertheless he developed well with the help of his mother’s support and her great concern for his well-being, and he became a world famous agricultural scientist. He married a Japanese woman Koharu, and they had two sons and four daughters. At the end of the World War II, his mother’s native land of Japan surrendered, and in an ironic turn of events, his father’s native land of Korea earned its independence. The Korean government needed for his scientific expertise, and thus Dr. Woo decided to work in his father’s native land until the day he died. In March of 1950, he settled in Korea, but he had to separate from his mother and family. His life in Korea was not comfortable because of the Korean War, his lack of social support, and the fact that many Korean people were indifferent towards him. Moreover when his mother died, he requested that the president Lee to allow him to visit Japan for her funeral service, but the Korean government prohibited him from leaving the country. Thus, he was not permitted to see his family members. Nevertheless he was very successful in the field of agriculture, and his work revolutionized the industry. As a result of his work, many Korean people were liberated from the vicious circle of the serious starvation. Unfortunately, many of his great contributions have now been completely forgotten, and he is only remembered as the creator of the seedless watermelon. Dr. Woo suffered from his identity confusion because he was half-Japanese and half-Korean, and he lost his father during his early childhood. However, he overcame his identity confusion by means of obsessive research and the study of the seed, in search of his questionable origins and roots. The seed seemed to be a symbol of his transitional object. He also suffered from serious guilt and shame because of the crimes committed by his father, so he decided to dedicate himself to his father’s native landofKorea, but he did not resign his mother tongue(Japanese) because he did not want to lose his mother while he could not speak father’s native language(Korean). I question why the Korean people only remember him as the creator of the seedless watermelon, and do not remember his countless great contributions to the agricultural industry. I guess there is a very biased selective inattention and paramnesia in the minds of the Korean people, and Dr. Woo was a kind of scapegoat for the acts of his father. The Korean people did not forgive him, and they seem to regard him as a seedless being and an outsider without nationality. But now we, the Korean people, must sincerely acknowledge him and his great contributions, and frankly speaking, we do not deserve to forgive him.
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KEYWORD
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Woo Jang-Choon, Seed, Guilt, Identity
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