According to the literature, soybean cultivation originated from Wang-Gong (B.C. 685-643) of China who brought it from northeast Asia, for the first time. FUKUDA, of Japan divided soybean into three species-the wild, the cultivated and the intermediate. From the result of that study, he concluded that the soybean originated in northeast Asia. But Wang Kum Rung of China insisted that soybean originated in Hwa-Nam, because the soybean is a shortday plant and the agricultural history of Hwa-Nam, south of China, is older than that of northeast Asia. However, agriculture in northeast Asia had been already begun about B.C. 4000-6000 and the origin of culture cannot be decided only by photosensitivity. It has been proved that soybeans found in Korea were same as the ones of B.C. 2000. The soybeans of northeast Asia meet the conditions of the probable place of origin of cultivated crops established by Vabilov. Accordingly it is concluded that soybean has been originated from northeast Asia.

• 이성우 | Lee, Sung-Woo