Kim Pen Hwa

Kim Pen Hwa (second from left) with his colleagues (1940)

In 1940, Kim arrived in Uzbek SSR where majority of his relatives were deported. He began to work in the kolkhoz at the Srednechirchik District of the Tashkent Region as the head of the construction department. With his diligence, ability to mobilize people and other organizational skills, Kim won the respect of his fellow villagers and attracted the attention of the district party leadership.[6]

In 1940, on the recommendation of the Srednechirchik District party committee at a general meeting of the collective farm 'Polyarnaya Zvezda', he was elected chairman of the collective farm. The collective farm was among the laggards, and the rice yield was low. In his new post, Kim's organizational talent was fully revealed. In the very first year of work on the collective farm, there were noticeable shifts: experienced personnel were invited, work was carried out to reclaim marshy lands, improve the irrigation system in rice fields. The average harvest of rice on the collective farm almost doubled, the first tons of cotton were obtained, which took a firm place in the structure of the collective farm. And from year to year the yield of agricultural crops increased.[7]

Deported Koreans from the Soviet Far East at a collective farm in Uzbek SSR (1937)

In the struggle for high yields of raw cotton, the collective farmers have done a tremendous job. By introducing trap crops (alfalfa-cotton) system, even though it was condemned and rejected by the president of the VASKhNIL Trofim Lysenko, they achieved the enrichment of the soil with the necessary organic substances, carried out extensive drainage work, reclaimed fallows and Tugay, etc.[8]

Following the outbreak of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, a fundraising campaign began in Uzbek SSR, and Kim's kolkhoz and other Korean kolkhozes played a big role in support of the Soviet war effort. The Soviet authorities also supported their efforts and willingness to adapt to the new reality, so they allowed the introduction of Korean publications, intellectual life and schools in stages. During World War II, when the food situation in Soviet Union became bad due to cutoff, the Polyarnaya Zvezda kohlhoz helped to solve the food problem in the Soviet Union by raising high productivity.[9]

In the difficult post-war years, when Soviet Union experienced an acute shortage of food, the Kim's collective farm demonstrated a high level of labor productivity. Due to the skillful organization of work and a high awareness of the duty to society, the collective farmers received high yields. So on average, from one hectare to 27-34 quintals of rice to 80 quintals and all this in the absence of proper mechanization, fertilizers, and means for weed control. The indicators achieved by individual brigades and links of the collective farm in rice cultivation were very high even on a national scale. The Polyarnaya Zvezda kolkhoz, under the direction of Kim, has given cotton yields of 39.3 quintals per hectare (ha) in 1947 (165 ha), 39.18 in 1951 (285 ha), and 31.5 in 1967 (1,715 ha). Its rice yield was 36.4 in 1947 (364 ha), 39.2 in 1951 (480 ha), and 53.7 in 1967 (331 ha).[10]

Kim headed the Polyarnaya Zvezda collective farm for over 34 years. His collective farm has always been distinguished from other farms by its organization and high labor productivity. In just 4 years of the seven-year plan, the plan for the production of raw cotton was overfulfilled by 6%, meat and wool - by 14%, plans for milk yield, for the output of pigs, sheep and poultry per 100 hectares of arable land were overfulfilled. Along with the growth of agricultural production as a result of successful farming, rational use of land and technology, and skillful combination of moral and material incentives resulted in the decrease of cost. In order to increase the material interest of collective farmers and reduce the cost of production in all brigades, cost accounting was introduced, units headed by tractor drivers were created, contracts were concluded between the brigades and the management of the collective farm.[11]