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Dayook Greenhouse Koyang City, Korea |
Dong Woon Lee: Korea's "Dr. Cactus"
Mr. Dong Woon Lee is the owner of Dayook Greenhouse, and is also well known as Korea's "Dr. Cactus," one of the world's leading authorities in the field of cacti and succulents. In the early 1980s, he helped Korea to become the world's number one cactus exporting country.
Mr. Lee's father, Seong Hee Lee, was a pioneer in cactus production and export in Korea, so Mr. Lee and his three brothers were exposed to the business from an early age, and they are all still involved in the industry. Mr. Lee has been growing cacti on his own since his father let him have his own small greenhouse the year he finished elementary school. He opened his first commercial greenhouse in 1975, two years after graduating from Hanyang University in Seoul.
Mr. Lee's main interest has been
developing and cultivating new species of cacti for export. Since 1976,
he had tried numerous times to develop a red variety of cactus, but failed
repeatedly. Finally, after discovering that the problem was a virus, he
succeeded in developing "Seoul #1," which is now the world's top quality
red cactus. It was created through an innovative grafting technique he
developed in 1982.
Mr. Dong Woon Lee at
work in his greenhouse (left and right) and with his wife and son
after receiving one
of his many awards for agricultural excellence in 1995 (center).
Besides red cacti, Mr. Lee has also developed black, yellow, pink, and a mixture of other colors. In fact, he has developed more than 1,000 new types of cacti. Around 500 farms cultivate the seeds of his new products, and then export them to the Netherlands, the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. By 1995, they were exporting 3.3 million dollars worth of cacti, which amounted to 43% of the total export of floriculture in Korea.
In addition, Mr. Lee has been actively
working as a lecturer at Nonghyup College, at the Office of Education for
the Agricultural Community of Koyang City, and at Uijongbu City Prison.
At present he works as an advisor for the Cactus Laboratory of Koyang City
and for the Korean Cactus Association. He received the gold prize
in the cactus area during the Koyang Flower Exhibition organized by the
Ministry of Agriculture in 1991 and the Merit Award of the Floricultural
Industry of Koyang City in 1992. He received an Excellency Award
for Agricultural Export from the Segye Ilbo Newspaper in 1995 and
the Sixth Daesan Agricultural Community Culture Award in Advanced Agricultural
Technology Promotion from the Daesan Agricultural Community Culture Foundation
in September 1996.
Just a few of the many varieties of cacti and succulents produced by Dayook Greenhouse.
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Mr.
Dong Woon Lee
Phone:
82-2-381-8229
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