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(Photo 1) Successfully grown Ukrainian Corn (From left, Director Soon Kwon Kim and Team Leader Yerim Cho)
Handong Global University (President Do Soung Choi) and the International Corn Foundation (Chairman Soon Kwon Kim, chair professor of Handong Global University) succeeded primarily in breeding corn adapted to Ukraine.
The start of Ukrainian corn breeding began with the request of POSCO International to world renowned expert in corn breeding, Professor Soon Kwon Kim. Professor Soon Kwon Kim introduced 3 types of the most popular hybrid corn cultivars in Ukraine and crossbred with 150 species in the United States and 50 species in China and Korea. Shortly after the start of the project, due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the cross-bred corn could not be tested in Ukraine, so the test was conducted in Pohang, South Korea, which has a similar climate and is located in a temperate region like Ukraine. While waiting for the end of the war, Professor Soon Kwon Kim’s team is breeding new original varieties with Ukrainian collections, and is also preparing a hybrid test for breeding new hybrid varieties to be tested in Ukraine.
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(Photo 2) Volunteers of corn cultivation community of Handong Global University and excellent corn of Ukraine
Due to Typhoon Hinnamno, 80% of the corn suffered severe damage from falling over, but some of the crossbred corn with the Ukrainian species were confirmed to have strong vitality to withstand the typhoon without falling over. Professor Soon Kwon Kim of the International Corn Foundation said, “Although there is no research fund support, with the help of 30 social service students of Handong Global University, we were able to successfully carry out research at the unified corn test farm in Handong Global University, Pohang.”
Established in 1988, the International Corn Foundation is taking the lead in solving the global food problem through the development of super corn. Through the ‘One Life Saving Movement’ campaign, the foundation is distributing honey super sweet corn with 15% sugar content to North Korea and countries in need of the global community. The purpose of honey super sweet corn project of International Corn Foundation is to supply corn seeds free of charge under the name of the International Corn Foundation and Handong Global University upon request not only to nursery schools in North Korea, but also to care institutions for the disabled and the elderly in Korea.
The Chairman Soon Kwon Kim of the foundation visited North Korea 59 times for a total of 370 days at the request of North Korea and conducted corn research with the cooperation of both North and South Korea. He was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize five times, with his contribution to the establishment of Nigeria’s first maize Association (MAAN) by working at the United Nations’ Institute for Tropical Agriculture in Africa.
