Father of Korean farm machinery passes away
By Yoon Ja-young
Kim Sang-soo
Kim Sang-soo, Chairman and CEO of the country’s leading agricultural machinery manufacturer Daedong Industrial, died Tuesday. He was 84.
Kim led the mechanization of the country’s agriculture, which previously relied on hard physical work and cows.
He was born in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1933, the eldest son of Kim Sam-man who founded Daedong Industrial in 1947. After graduating from the prestigious Jinju High School, the junior Kim studied manufacturing management at Nihon University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan.
He joined his father’s company in 1959 and was in charge of product development and manufacturing. He also trained in Germany for three years and in Japan for a year to learn new technologies. He became CEO in 1975 and had been chairman since 1984.
Based on his expertise and know-how in agriculture technology, he set up the foundation for the modernization of the country’s rural community. He developed cultivators, tractors, combine harvesters and rice-planting machines for the first time here.
He set up a factory in Daegu in 1984 with annual capacity of 25,000 tractors, 5,000 rice-planting machines and 5,000 combine harvesters. He also expanded the company sales network to around 150 dealers.
Daedong grew to be the country’s top farm machinery company with over 30 percent of the market.
Kim also focused on opening markets overseas. Daedong started exporting to the United States in 1985 and set up a U.S. subsidiary in 1993. It also set up subsidiaries in China in 2007 and Europe in 2010.
The chairman continued his efforts to develop technology and nurture human resources. Daedong set up a technology research and training center in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, in 1997.
Since Kim became CEO, the company’s annual sales have risen to 580 billion won from 200 billion won. Exports increased explosively to 200 billion won in 60 countries from 100 million won.
The government acknowledged Kim’s achievement with an order of industrial merit.
Though he transferred managerial control to his son in 2011, Kim participated in management until recently to nurture the 70-year-old company toward a successful centennial.