Earning a teaching certificate in one year because of his five years of middle school, KIM was appointed in April 1930 to Daekwang Public Primary School. For the next eight years he pursued his chosen profession with diligence but without the satisfaction he had expected. A growing desire to participate directly in rural community development led him in June 1938 to take employment in the Public Works Section, Bureau of Industry, of the Pyongyangnam-Do Government. Working first as an administrative assistant and then as supervisor of road construction, he gained the practical knowledge of engineering that would enable him later to help his fellow refugees.

In May 1943 KIM was conscripted into the Japanese Army as the lowest grade civilian employee and forcibly taken to China and subsequently to Malaya and Indonesia. After the Japanese surrender in August 1945 he was sent to Singapore, the collection point for all Korean conscriptees in the area. While there he became an active member of the Korean Association Abroad which was organized to help conscriptees and represent them to the Allied authorities. He was finally repatriated in March 1946. However, the peace and reunion the KIM family celebrated was to be shortlived.

KIM’s hometown, Ongjin-Eup was located just south of the 38th Parallel below the zone occupied by Russian forces at the end of World War II but north of the cease Fire Line to be drawn in 1953. In the four years after his joyous homecoming to a "restored fatherland" no longer ruled by the Japanese, KIM observed at close proximity, and with increasing dismay, the "brutal tactics employed upon he populace" by the Korean Communist Government installed by the Russians in the north. While helping his family farm KIM also participated in organizing a youth movement to improve the welfare of the community and to counter Communist infiltration. His brother was kidnapped by the Communists in 1948 and killed in 1950. KIM himself was blacklisted. He had concluded that he must leave the vulnerable border area when the outbreak of war on June 25, 1950 and the extension of Communist control to Ongjin-Eup made flight imperative.

KIM had married Ahn Soo Ae from his home village in May 1947. The couple and their newborn first child, a daughter, hid in the mountains and in homes of close friends until January 4, 1951 when they began, on foot, the trek south to an uncertain future.

While war continued the hard-pressed South Korean Government had no organized provisions for refugees except rations of food, clothing and some medicine from the Social Welfare Assistance Program of the United Nations Command, and donations from voluntary agencies abroad. Left otherwise to fend for themselves, refugees found shelter as they could. In tbe influx that grew to nearly two million persons seeking haven between 1950 and 1953, KIM and his family were fortunate to find one room in a simple farmhouse on the southwest coast at Sachon-Ri, Anyang-Myon of Changhung-Gun in Chollanam-Do. Around them were others who had fled from Ongjin-Gun.

"As a refugee," KIM later said of those first months in Sachon-Ri, "I watched other refugees receiving food from relief agencies but doing nothing. For their living they had only what they were given, and I knew well this could not last very long. So, I thought, while the government and these agencies were still supporting us with food, we should work." Believing improvement in their condition could best be achieved by group activity, KIM, in October 1951, with about 120 other refugees, organized the Refugee Liaison Office at Anyang-Myon to develop communities through their own efforts. With lumber and cement from the UN Command the newly formed band built small houses and reclaimed a plot of hilly land where cabbages, potatoes and grain could be planted. KIM meanwhile took many odd jobs, such as chief without salary and as clerk in the myon (lowest administrative district under the county) office with nominal pay. The family still had to depend upon relief to supplement the small income he earned.

When the war ended the total population of the Korea peninsula was estimated at slightly over 35 million. Of these some 24 million, including the 2 million refugees, were crowded into South Korea, an area about 10,000 square kilometers smaller than North Korea. Most of the refugees were farmers who wanted to resume their lifetime occupation, but all already developed arable land in the south was occupied nor were alternatives available. Before partition in 1945 industries had been concentrated in the north near supplies of raw materials and electric power. The few industries developed in the south after 1945 were either wrecked during the war or could offer no jobs for which refugees might be trained. Other jobs were scarce and given first to unemployed local people, leaving little work of any kind whereby the refugees could earn their livelihood.

One solution was to reclaim uplands and tidal lands, primarily along the south and west coasts. An agreement was reached in 1953 providing that refugees would be given relief financed by the United States while the Korean Government resettled them on reclaimed land. Initially, reclamation was by individual families, but this proved ineffective and cumbersome to administer. Progress was only made when refugees pooled their efforts.

KIM HYUNG SEO had seen at the outset the possibilities in reclamation and the need for group action. His small refugee organization in Anyang-Myon had reclaimed one upland area without any assurance that they could keep the land; although he had noticed many other places feasible of development, he had hesitated for lack of clear-cut ownership rights. In the agreement officially providing for relief and resettlement on land that would be theirs, he saw the opportunity for himself and other refugees to become self-supporting. In July 1953 the informal Liaison Office was replaced with the larger Federation of Refugee Resettlement Projects in Changhung-Gun which KIM was to serve as Chairman through the eventful decade of its existence. Over the next five years 500 homes were built on uplands reclaimed by this Federation. Then in early 1958 KIM began to talk with fellow refugees about converting tidelands into farms.

Some scoffed at his "eccentric idea," but 50 families from his home district were drawn by his enthusiasm and agreed to cooperate in the first project he selected at Sachon-Ri. Another 56 families joined as the work progressed. Reclamation of 107 chong bo, or 106.12 hectares (one chong bo equals 0.99 hectares), of tidal land was started in June 1958. There was no particular law on reclamation of uplands, but tideland reclamation required approval from the provincial or central government, depending upon the magnitude of the project. After obtaining permission from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the inexperienced refugees were free to proceed as best they could.

To buttress his own practical knowledge KIM sought the advice of provincial government engineers in planning the dike to contain the tidal shallows and in calculating the problems of drainage. At the operational level he participated in the regular morning meetings of a managerial "self-support group," where problems were aired and each day's work was scheduled. Members of the 107 families—including the KIMS—quarried rocks from a hillside with hand picks and carried them on A-frames or on their heads to the simple cares they pushed on rails to the dike area. The dike was to be 1,464 meters long and up to 4.6 meters high. Women, girls and boys worked as hard as the men. Driving rain and snow slowed the pace, but only severe storms caused work stoppages. Flares were used through the nights and all workers were assigned one, and sometimes two, eight-hour shifts in 24 hours. In winter fires were kept burning to warm hands numbed by icy wind and sea.

In September 1959 disaster struck. Typhoon Sarah blew in waves nearly 10 meters high that in one night swept away most of the laboriously built upper part of the dike. Eleven months later Typhoon Carmen wrought extensive destruction to the dike just as it was nearing completion. The weary workers wept when these calamities occurred but KIM’s response was to resume work immediately, allowing no time for discouragement to erode morale. When the dike was finished, construction began on two reservoirs—one to hold 278,000 tons of water and the other 166,000 tons—to protect the newly reclaimed land from drought. With completion of a water channel 2,030 meters long, the land was ready for cultivation.

During the long months of construction and until the first harvest the families were sustained by the cornmeal, wheat flour, cooking oil, powdered milk and canned food received from the U.S. government and distributed by the Christian World Service operating through the Korean Church World Service (KCWS), the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (CARE), and the Catholic Relief Mission. These voluntary agencies also supplied draft animals, clothing and tools. Hand picks, lumber for carts and rails were purchased with cash assistance channeled through the Korean government.

When heavy weather prevented dike work and while waiting for rain to leach salt from the land, the refugees—with materials provided by the voluntary agencies and the United States Operations Mission (USOM) and distributed through the Korean Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (MHSA)—built 41 houses, each with 162.36 square meters of floor space, to house temporarily two or three families. They also built an office, recreation room, and warehouse for agricultural implements of 39.6 square meters of floor space each; a larger warehouse for grain of 108.3 square meters; a public bathroom of 12.4 square meters, and three public toilets of 37.2 square meters each. Two potable water wells were dug and MHSA gave them enough cement and lumber to erect a small mill and a handicraft workshop.

The distribution of land in December 1961 was a grand occasion done in the presence of ranking dignitaries including senior members of the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. Determined that apportionment be fair and above complaints of partiality that would adversely affect future cooperation, KIM asked to be excused from distribution decisions and at first refused to accept his share so that others could have more. When fellow workers insisted that the KIMs must receive land for the distribution to be just, they accepted their .7 hectare-share with each of the other participating families.

Of the 107 chong bo reclaimed, 74.3 hectares were in farmland; the remainder was taken up by reservoirs and intake and drainage canals. The first crop was barley to neutralize the saline content of the otherwise fertile alluvial soil. When weed control was mastered rice soon grew here as well as on inland fields. Good harvests made up for the discomfort of hands and legs bruised by sea shells in the paddy fields. From the fourth year the annual crop has averaged 104 metric tons of barley and 212 metric tons of rice. Near their snugly arranged houses, the refugee farmers in winter tend cattle, and women and girls make straw rope at the common handicraft workshop. High yields from an oyster bed planted nearby add to the support of the new settlers.

From this initial experience in tideland reclamation, KIM learned that taking land from the sea was much more difficult than developing low or hilly wasteland. "The hardship was so great," he recalls, "that I had to push, reminding my fellow workers all the time that having land was our only way to survive." He was satisfied that results justified the three and a half years of risky and backbreaking labor.

As the Sachon-Ri experiment neared completion, many landless and needy people who saw the work asked for a similar project under KIM’s leadership. KIM therefore worked out a plan for reclamation of 1,000 chong bo, in the vicinity of Daeduk-Myon and Kwansan-Myon in Changhung-Gun, by building dikes to link three coastal islands to the mainland. When the plan was announced skeptics derided both it and the "amateur planner." Still, 1,057 families shared his optimism and pledged participation. Most were refugees, but some were poor farmers and fishermen native to the area who were attracted by provision in the scheme for trout ponds.

The Daeduk Tideland Reclamation Project commenced in August 1961 when, with assistance from MHSA and USOM, building began on the first 70 houses that 140 families were to occupy in December. On October 22 permission was formally granted to reclaim the public tidal land and dike construction began on November 21. As time and materials permitted housing was readied for other workers still living in tents or huts near the job site, or in nearby villages where they usually paid for lodging by doing odd jobs for their hosts.

In the late autumn of 1961 the Federation, headed by KIM, took advantage of the Agreement on Cottage Industries between the Korean and United States governments to establish at Wondo-Ri, Changhung-Gun, a workshop to utilize scrap in the manufacture and repair of tools and equipment for the reclamation projects. The workshop was also to serve as a center for the development of handicrafts. Production of straw bags for dike work began immediately, and the carpentry section began making doors for new buildings. Vocational classes were given for the unemployed in five counties "with the triple aim of increasing their earning potential, instilling cooperative spirit and encouraging their self effort."

Before work started the Korean Church World Service had indicated its active support of the Daeduk plan. This agency acted as a conduit to provide supplementary food—obtained primarily under U.S. Public Law 480 Title III—and cash on the basis of need to groups of refugees while they reclaimed farmland that would make them self-supporting. As of September 1962 KCWS gave Daeduk 8,405,000 won (US$64,654) in cash. Also given were 1,439,000 pounds of cornmeal, 6,579 bags of flour, 551 bags of milk, and 4,484 gallons of cooking oil. Churches in the United States and New Zealand gave 187 bales of used clothing. The monetary equivalent of this food and clothing amounted to US$185,812.

In the same one-year period MHSA provided large amounts of flour, beans, rice and barley. CARE gave 1,200 food packages and 350,000 pounds of cornmeal, and the New Zealand Cooperative Overseas Relief Service Organization (CORSO) contributed some US$100,000 in cash for purchase of construction materials and other supplies. Used equipment, including one bulldozer, two generators, two forklifts and one cement mixer were donated by the U.S. Eighth Army through USOM; other heavy equipment was loaned by MHSA. USOM gave lumber, cement, nails and the equivalent of US$8,461 in cash for the construction of houses. The Chollanarn-Do Government supplied 100,000 straw bags for dike work.

Another resettlement project for some 100 families, initiated by MHSA in November 1961, was integrated with the Daeduk project and additional materials were supplied by MHSA to build houses for these families.

Again work was around the clock. Although explosives were used to loosen rock, and heavy equipment was available to move large pieces, much of the work still was done by bare hands. Rocks weighing more than 10 tons were required to anchor the dikes where tidal pressure was strongest. A critical part of one dike was washed away 30 times by stormy seas. A new difficulty was encountered: in long stretches the weight of filled earth and stone caused the dike, built with great toil to heights of 7 and 10 meters, to sink into the soft sea bottom. During two raging typhoons six men were drowned when the dike collapsed. Still, three dikes, ranging from 3 to 15 meters in height and totaling 1,929 meters in length, and two drainage gates were completed within one year.

Completion of the two reservoirs, the intake and drainage ditches and a canal from the diversion weir to the reservoirs, the fabrication of cement pipe for the ditches, and leveling and subdividing the land took another three years. KCWS, CORSO and USOM continued their support through this phase of the work. While the lower portion was still being leveled, higher land that had already been leached of salt was planted on a communal basis by "settlers with managerial potential who could afford seed and fertilizer." Many families raised chickens, pigs, goats and rabbits.

At the distribution ceremony in May 1966 President Park Chung Hee conferred upon KIM HYUNG SEO the Order of Industrial Merit, Silver Tower, for "positively contributing to the expansion of arable land" and "providing needy people with self-support work." Each of the 1,329 households that had participated in the four and a half years of hard work received a certificate of ownership for its share of the cultivable land. The one-third to which KIM was entitled as a project manager—in payment for his services and costs in renting or buying equipment—was given, at his request, to families of Korean soldiers injured or killed in Vietnam. Forty percent of the reclaimed area was converted to communal fish ponds. The community center consisted of two recreation halls, a public dining room, four warehouses, a dispensary, four potable water wells and eight large public toilets, to which other common facilities soon were added. Most of the original houses, nestled at the foot of hills just above the new farmland, accommodated two families. Now, as the settlers prosper, more residences are being built to afford single occupancy.

Government recognition of KIM’s achievements in reclamation was for more than the Sachon and Daeduk projects. While supervising the latter, in response to pleas from needy families KIM had initiated five other tideland reclamation projects and had taken ova a sixth at government request; three of these were completed before Daeduk. To handle administration of these extensive enterprises the Federation was disbanded and in its place in September 1963 the Korean Association for Development of Assimilation Projects (familiarly known as KADAP) was established with a small office in Seoul and KIM HYUNG SEO as Chairman.

The Koma Project, located in Changhung-Gun, was started in September 1962 under the Federation and completed in December 1965 under KADAP. To recover 236 chong bo of land two sea dikes totaling 1,232 meters in length and ranging from 2.5 to 6 meters in height were built. Next constructed were a reservoir with 813,000-ton capacity and 18,931 meters of intake and drainage channels. One hundred and twenty families of refugees and unemployed earned shares and another 62 families were settled on the project manager's share donated by KIM. From the 93.2 cultivable hectares an annual yield of some 230 metric tons of rice and 79 metric tons of barley is expected. The 182 families are housed in new, small residences arranged in neat rows. Common facilities include a large public recreation hall where community matters are discussed, three potable water wells and five public toilets.

The Punggil Project, initiated in April 1963 to recover 64.8 hectares of tideland and adjoining hilly area along the coast of Punggil-Ri, Yongsan-Myon, Changhung-Gun, was also completed in December 1965. Knowing beforehand that KIM would refuse the project manager's share of land, the government assigned 70 families to this project from the beginning. Though the equipment KADAP by then had accumulated or had at its disposal lightened the work, life still was risked daily as rock was pried loose from the hillside and a dike built to push back the insistent sea. The combination of energetic leadership and persevering workers produced in a little over two years a dike 2,145 meters long and from 2.5 to 6.5 meters high, a reservoir with a capacity of 234,000 tons and 7,703 meters of intake and drainage canals. Overlooking the newly drained fields are houses, a warehouse, two wells and four public toilets built with materials supplied through MHSA. Good crops have led to the optomistic expectation of an average annual harvest of 140 metric tons of polished grain on the 39.9 hectares of agricultural land.

The Changkwan Project begun in August 1963 was brought to successful completion in September 1965, despite repeated destruction of the half-built dike by high waves. Giving the disheartened workers no opportunity to admit defeat, KIM was on hand after each onslaught of the sea to help them begin again. The 66 families that built 1,218 meters of stout sea wall to reclaim 37.4 hectares between Changkwan Island and Koma-ri along the coast are now settled in trim houses on a corner of Changkwan Island. They anticipate an average annual harvest of 116 metric tons of polished grain. Native islanders have also benefited from the reclamation works; they can now ride bicycles on the connecting dikes to the mainland.

In the spring of 1963 construction of houses was started at the Dukchon Project in Daeduk-Myon, Changhung-Gun, and dike work began in October when permission to reclaim the 506 hectares of tidal land was granted. Though the project was in accordance with the government resettlement program for displaced persons, this effort was suspended in December 1965 because of fishery rights obtained by an outside individual. After settlement of the dispute six months later, work was resumed. By August 1967 two units composed of 19 watergates had been completed, and in December 1968 the 3,541-meter dike rising 4 to 10 meters from the sea bottom was in place. On stormy days materials provided by MHSA were used to build 34 houses, eight warehouses, two public baths, three wells and five public toilets. Now under construction are a reservoir with a capacity of 2,322,000 tons and 12,140 meters of intake and drainage ditches. To date 640 families share in cultivating 390 hectares of arable land. KADAP is considering establishment of a shrimp farm on a portion of the reclaimed land to increase the income of the new community.

KIM’s largest undertaking—to retrieve 2,770 hectares from Haechang Bay—was launched in March 1964. The area had been selected for tideland reclamation during the Japanese Occupation, but no action was taken because of the many construction problems. MHSA gave cash to pay skilled engineers and to purchase materials such as cement and iron bars. With this help KIM, his KADAP engineering staff and the enduring workers, by June 1967, had established No. 1 and No. 2 watergates, each with 21 sets, in the high seas. Unlike other projects where day to day supervision could be delegated, Haechang Bay demanded KIM’s personal attention and was a test of his toughness and determination. Deliberating each night on plans for the next day's work, he was ready with encouragement and a schedule at the daily morning staff meeting. It was not until July 1969, however, that the two sea dikes, totaling 3,474 meters in length and ranging from 4.5 to 14.2 meters in height, were finally finished.

The Koma, Punggil, Changkwan and Dukchon Resettlement projects had all received support similar and in proportion to that rendered at Sachon and Daeduk from American Forces Aid to Korea, the U.S. Eighth Army in the form of used equipment, and from USOM, Church World Service through KCWS, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, CORSO and from the Freedom from Hunger Campaign (FFHC), in addition to the aid from MHSA. During the first two years the Haechang Bay Project also received assistance from these sources, particularly KCWS and CARE which were then distributing United States P.L. 480 cornmeal and wheat flour under Title III to relieve the overburdened Korean government of this task. In mid-l966 when the Korean government was ready to assume responsibility, all reclamation and resettlement projects came under Title II whereby MHSA distributed grain provided under the U.S. Food for Peace Program to needy people on a self-help basis, and the government contributed the cost of construction materials and barley and rice. Some voluntary agencies wanted to continue non-food assistance to Haechang Bay, but the big project could not be accommodated within their limited private resources and become entirely dependent upon MHSA support.

Construction difficulties and the slow progress at Haechang Bay gave rise to problems not before encountered by KIM. Some workers left, complaining of the hard work. Others, without KIM's knowledge, sold their rations of cornmeal and flour to buy preferred barley and rice, causing friction with voluntary agencies and an investigation by KCWS. KIM also had "to meet and overcome" misunderstandings created by competitive leaders of other projects whose supporters in government circles objected that "the work was taking too long, the project was too large, and too many resources were required." MHSA, however, continued to give food, provide equipment, and pay both administrative and material costs. Chong Hui Sop, who headed MHSA under both the junta and the elected government and had known KIM’s record since the Sachon Project, was rewarded for his staunch support; KIM spent only 1.2 million of the 1.6 million won budgeted for Haechang Bay.

The Ministry expects to settle some 2,500 refugee families at Haechang Bay. The estimated yield from the 1,573 hectares of agricultural land is 6,033 metric tons annually of polished grain. Original plans called for construction of a reservoir of 7,384,000 tons capacity and 77,100 meters of intake and drainage ditches, but, to achieve higher productivity, the KADAP staff is discussing use of a portion or all of the reservoir area for a shrimp farm, livestock farm and rice paddy. Among services the Haechang Bay community enjoys is a new school established by the government.

The first of the unfinished efforts taken over by KIM at MHSA request was the Oma Self-Help Project referred to him in July 1964. Designed to reclaim 1,087.5 hectares of tideland in Kohung-Gun, Chollanam-Do, it had been sponsored in 1962 by the Omado Rehabilitation Association under direction of MHSA to resettle destitute farmers, and lepers whose cases had been arrested. Subsequently finding the area unsuitable for lepers the sponsor had lost interest. With support and guidance from MHSA, KIM began immediately to repair the dike work damaged by typhoons and high tides. By March 1966 two watergates and three sea dikes were completed. KIM meanwhile developed new plans for inner construction. Deciding to depend upon natural rainfall for irrigation, he reduced the projected network of ditches to 3,400 meters and the two large reservoirs were not built. Only 480 hectares of the reclaimed land was prepared for planting; the remaining 318 hectares were set aside for shrimp raising which was calculated to earn three times more per hectare than grain. When basic work was completed in August 1968 the project was turned over to the Agricultural and Fisheries Development Corporation to create a model shrimp farm in joint investment with the Japanese Fish Culture Authority. The first shrimp crop is to be harvested in September 1969.

The Dangjin-Sukmoon Project had been suspended for three years when it was referred to KIM in January 1967. Reclamation of this 714 hectares of tideland had been stopped after the previous project leader misused support grain, and it had not been resumed because Dutch and Japanese engineers concluded the high tides made the area almost impossible to reclaim. Confronted upon his arrival by workers grown bitter and restless watching their partly built dikes wash away, KIM "rekindled their enthusiasm with hard work." Five workers were drowned and 12 tons of logs carried away in high seas, but 12-set watergates and two dikes, built in four stages and rising from 2 to 16.2 meters and totaling 733 meters in length, were completed within three months. This feat "encouraged the workers to double their efforts" and drew particular attention from the government. Minister Chong and the Provincial Governor came personally to commend the workers, and MHSA increased its support to ensure the success of the long troubled venture. A reservoir of 2,576,000 tons capacity, four pumps and 66,810 meters of intake and drainage canals were ready in May 1968 when land was distributed to the first 380 of an anticipated 1,170 families to be resettled. Of the 127-hectare project manager's share that revated to KIM when he took over, 77 hectares were given at his request to families of veterans, and proceeds from sale of produce from the remaining 50 hectares are to be deposited in a scholarship fund for needy students chosen by the gun-su (county headman).

The Songsan Reclamation Project in Chungchongnam-Do was turned over to KIM in July 1968. Whereas the former project leader had wasted food and material assistance and made scant progress in the five years since the project began KIM was frugal and set a demanding pace. When the 450-meter dike was completed in January 1969, KIM wrote to the gun-su and the Korea Committee of the FFHC to enlist their cooperation in developing 100 of the 250 arable chong bo of the total of 350 reclaimed as a model livestock farm. In August, with the help of CORSO and the above, leveling started for this farm. Earlier in the summer nearly 100 youths from Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Korea worked for 20 days digging irrigation ditches under the FFHC program. An initial 210 families expect to plant their first crop on the upper land in the spring of 1970.

Confidence in KIM's performance was further fortified in 1968 when MHSA asked for suggestions on building with "a very limited budget" 32 kilometers of a new Kohung-Polgyo Road to reach remote upland villages. Offering to do the job himself, KIM divided the work between the villages to be served, called villagers to the site of the projected road and asked them all to work for relief rations. Construction began in April; each section was completed within three months and in December 1968 the full length of road was opened. Between December 1968 and June 1969 KADAP used a similar approach to widen and surface over 100 kilometers of road, one section requiring considerable rock-cutting and the other repair of a weak foundation. From September 1968 to May 1969 KIM supervised reclamation of 56 chong bo of upland to create pasture for cattle raising. Between January and July 1969 KADAP under KIM’s direction opened a canal from Chilpo Dam in Pusan-Gun, Chollapuk-Do, to paddy fields two kilometers distant. Now underway are expansion of the Kohung-Noktong road in Kohung-Gun; installation of a filtering facility in Wando-Eup to give a population of some 20,000 potable water; and construction of the 70-meter Sisan Bridge scheduled for completion in October and the No. 1 and No. 2 Sanggye Bridges of 25 and 30 meters in length to be finished in December.

The membership in KADAP and its staff varies depending upon the work being done. With four projects at present in progress, the staff numbers 40, including skilled and semi-skilled engineers, surveyors, administrators and mechanics, and there are between 500 and 600 members. During each project benefiting members who can afford to do so contribute from 100 to 200 won per family per month (272 won equalled US$1 in 1966) and equipment is rented out when not needed. From this variable and at best limited income, KIM pays for the small Seoul office and the salaries of four assistants. KIM also receives a modest salary at the insistence of members so he can work full-time as Chairman of KADAP. Other staff members are paid from government allowances for services rendered on individual projects, and more are hired as work demands. The government, anxious to keep KADAP going, has three times offered cash grants, most recently in 1968, but KIM has refused a subsidy because of concomitant regulations and obligations that would impinge upon the independence he and his associates prize.

The Changhung Handicraft Center and Workshop, established in 1961 at Wondo-Ri, now has new well-equipped permanent quarters at Sachon-Ri. Much of its personnel is on the move with two mobile workshops to repair heavy equipment at reclamation sites. A tailoring shop is engaged in production of work clothes. Nearby is a lumber mill to supply sawn lumber to meet project carpentry shop needs.

Project procedures have been regularized in the years since the Sachon experiment began. The selected location is first analyzed scientifically and a budget drawn up. The request for permission to reclaim land is then made to the gun office and from there forwarded through the provincial government to MHSA for feasibility and budget review. Only after approval are men organized and work started, unless verbal assurance is given so that house-building can begin. Depending upon the size of the project, either the myon, gun, or provincial government is responsible for supervision and evaluation of work progress and for payment of grain, materials and cash. Whenever possible the dike and drainage gate are constructed first and simultaneously. Next come the reservoir, irrigation ditches and leveling. Each project is inspected upon completion and land distribution is usually delegated to the provincial governor or county headman.

The arrangement for relief and resettlement assistance that came into effect in mid-l966 remains in force with some refinements for greater efficiency. Food, including P.L. 480 grain, is allocated through MHSA to the provincial government, which in turn passes it down to the myon office responsible for supervision. Cash for hiring technicians and other needs is also allocated by MHSA and dispensed by the local government concerned.

Equipment provided by the government normally must be returned when a project is finished, but KADAP has been allowed to retain equipment as long as it is administering relief projects. U.S. army surplus equipment donated to projects managed by KIM now belongs legally to KADAP; also accumulated from some 20 relief and resettlement projects are 13 bulldozers, two earthmovers, two forklifts, two payloaders, two Turnapull scrapers, five cement mixers, 15 trucks and other supporting equipment.

Experience has evolved a tested pattern for the cultivation of reclaimed land and the productive use of the settlers' time. Planting starts first on the upper side of the reclaimed area near the former coast line. Usually after three years enough rain has fallen so that the entire area had been leached and can be planted. For best results, after a first spring crop of barley, the soil is further neutralized with an application of gypsum before rice is planted in May. If the saline content is high corn sometimes is planted instead of barley. Fertilizer now comes from agricultural cooperatives that have been organized in each resettlement village. In the initial years settlers must find work to augment their minimal crops and reduced relief rations. The most common supplementary means of livelihood are oystering, cattle raising, fishing and seaweed gathering.

Leaving routine administration of KADAP to the four-man staff in Seoul, KIM continues to spend most of his time at project sites where he lives with other refugees in huts or tents and works as they do to set an example. "Our resources," he explains, "are usually 30 percent capital and 70 percent muscle and brains. In overcoming the difficulties of tideland reclamation spirit and tempo are critical." Working around the clock in regular shifts has become a custom and shaving is discouraged as a waste of time when every second counts in the battle against rising tides, the onset of winter and strong winds. Not sparing himself, KIM has sometimes fallen asleep from fatigue and been wakened by the tide; his own beard was once so long that Minister Chong failed to recognize him asleep in a tent.

The KIM home is still in Sachon-Ri but the family has taken a temporary residence in Seoul where KIM must come periodically to transact the business of KADAP. After working late into the evening on financial and other problems and project plans, short visits at home afford KIM his only glimpse of his wife, four daughters and son.

To acquaintances who fault him for "concentrating too much on his work and forgetting his family," KIM replies: "Hard work is the only answer to the refugee problem and to the larger problem of our developing nation. I am only doing my duty." This inspiring personal commitment, coupled with strong sympathy for the people he seeks to help and his faith in their abilities, has engendered an almost worshipful regard for him among fellow refugees who have worked with him and to whom he is "second father." Positive and unpretentious, it is his habit not to listen to negative views and to wear ordinary work clothes made at the Changhung Workshop even in Seoul.

A measure of the seriousness with which KIM takes his responsibility as head of the refugee organization was his concern that a teaching certificate was inadequate for dealing with senior officials "in a land where a college degree is precious." Thus in April 1961, while he was completing plans for Daeduk, he enrolled at Wongkwang College, a small school nearest to his work. By attending a minimum of one-third of the evening classes and passing examinations, he graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Commerce in September 1965.

KIM was recently offered a position as head of the operations department of a construction engineering company specializing in reclamation at a salary equivalent to US$2,000 a month—when engineering graduates usually receive the equivalent of US$200 and semi-skilled engineers US$100. He declined, reiterating the vow made after the completion of Daeduk: "Until resettlement of refugees from the North is solved, I hope to devote my entire effort to this purpose." KADAP provides a vehicle for both reclamation and resettlement wherein he can remain dose to the workers. On reclamation projects there is the 30 percent manager's share he can give to others. Had he taken his share on each project, KIM today would be a very wealthy man. He, however, believes his leadership has been accepted because he has not accumulated land and none can accuse him of "working for my own business." "If I do not have the respect of the people," he says simply, "I cannot work." The worker's share of .7 hectare reluctantly accepted at Sachon-Ri is his only land. Now farmed by family members or hired labor, it produces enough to feed the KIM family.

Some critics say manual labor on early Federation and KADAP projects was uneconomic for dikes built by hand tend to wash away easily and require constant repair. KIM’s answer is that until a supply of heavy equipment could gradually be collected, manual labor was the only way to proceed. Often citing the example of Holland where one third of the country is diked lowland reclaimed from the North Sea, he believes some 23,000 hectares can be reclaimed in South Korea. As part of a long term effort in this direction that is currently gaining momentum, KADAP alone is now considering as many as 200 large and small tideland reclamation projects on the southern and west coasts.

The energetic KADAP Chairman dreams that the organization will be able concurrently to expand to rural development and modernization to improve the living standard in the new communities. His long-term goal is equal economic opportunity for urban and rural people. Seeing better education as a bridge between urban and rural living, he believes emphasis in the countryside should be on vocational training centers to encourage development of small industries which he considers essential to supplement farm income. The Changhung Center is a beginning, but he envisions for KADAP a full-fledged vocational training institute where curriculum would include instruction in farming, livestock raising, bamboo growing, fishing, carpentry, tailoring, shoemaking, mechanics, simple engineering and community development. So that graduates being taught "to work quietly" with the people will understand their role, KIM also believes mental and spiritual values should be stressed.

Evidencing the regard he enjoys, KIM has received numerous national and provincial awards and honors over the years. In 1964 Certificates of Achievement were awarded him by the President, the ministers of Public Information, Health and Social Affairs, and Agriculture and Forestry, the Governor of Chollanam-Do, the head of Changhung-Gun, and the National Good Conduct Committee. In 1966 he was invited by the FFHC New Zealand (committee to visit New Zealand for one month and on his return was a guest of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in Bangkok. The same year he received the Seventh Sam II Award of the Labor and Construction Foundation in addition to the medal from President Park at Daeduk. President Park again honored KIM in 1968 with a Letter of Appreciation. Since 1966 he has served as advisor, and in June 968 was elected Vice-President, of the FFHC Korea Committee.

Embarrassed by these many public acknowledgements except as they have enabled him to do more as KADAP Chairman, KIM replied to one award with this brief statement: "Human beings are born once and they will have to die. While I am living, I want to do something worthwhile for human beings."

September 1969
Manila

REFERENCES:

Artievements of Projects. Seoul: KADAP, Inc. 1968-1969. (Mimeographed report with maps and photographs of projects.)

Articles of Incorporation of the Korean Association for Development of Assimilation Projects, Inc. Seoul. N.d.

"Campaign and Development," Newsletter. Seoul: Korea Freedom from Hunger Campaign Committee. No. 2, July/August 1969.

Congratulations, Sok-Mun Tideland Self-Help Project Completion and Farm Distribution. Seoul: Dangjin-Gun Office. 1968.

Daedak Refugee Assimilation Project, Dedication Ceremony. Seoul: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. 1962.

Dachan Sangoon Ilbo. (newspaper). Seoul. February 9, 1969.

Korea Church World Service. Annual Report. Seoul. 1968.

Matienzo, I.H. Jr. "The King of Reclamation," Free World. Manila: U.S. Information Agency. Vol. 15, no. 11, November 1966.

Photograph Album of Project Work. Seoul: KADAP, Inc. 1969.

Present Status of Projects. Seoul: KADAP, Inc. 1967. (Mimeographed reports with maps.)

Self-Help Work Program—A ROK-U.S. Joint Project under the U.S. Food For Peace Program. Seoul: Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. 1968.

Variety of Reclamation Projects on the Sea. Seoul: KADAP, Inc. 1964.

Interviews with persons acquainted with Kim Hyung Seo and the work of KADAP and visits to project sites.