Kwon Jong Rim, Merited Scientist, PhD and associate professor, has a career of over six decades at the Central Geological Prospecting Institute under the Ministry of National Natural Resources Development.

With an ideal and ambition to make a contribution to the prosperity of the country by tapping more precious resources, she has remained faithful to her job from her twenties to the advanced age of 80.

Her first research project was the study of plant fossils in the Cenozoic era. She inspected every part of the country from Onsong of North Hamgyong Province in the northernmost tip of the country to Kangwon Province and Kaesong City, exploring rugged mountains and underground faces.

In the course of this, she studied thousands of newly-unearthed fossils to restore the era of stratum formation and the ecological environment at that time, thus laying a scientific foundation for identifying the geological structure of the country.

Based on it, she played a leading role in discovering 11 kinds of fossil plants indigenous to the country and defining them as new species.

She also intensified the study of fossil plants in the Cenozoic era throughout the country, thus making a contribution to creating forest resources and promoting the development of coal industry.

Even after she got married, she, together with explorers, participated in the research of analysing the mud layer of Lake Chon on Mt Paektu, the highest mountain in the country. Even in the face of severe cold of 30-40 degrees below zero, they collected mud at the lake bed hundreds of metres deep.

She discovered diatom fossils and classified them into over 70 species, and found valuable data for clarifying the existence and characteristics of the first living organism in the lake and other geological problems.

Afterwards, she was honoured with the titles of PhD and Merited Scientist by devoting herself to the work of putting the survey of underground resources in the country on an IT basis.

She has written over 20 books and over 60 treatises conducive to the development of geology, and trained many scientists and technicians, who are now playing a leading role in the country’s geological prospecting sector.

In recognition of her special feats in ensuring scientific accuracy of prospecting for underground resources, the state invited her as a delegate to the National Conference of Intellectuals, the National Meeting of Geological Prospecting Workers and other national meetings and celebrations.

Whenever her children ask her to have a rest, she says: Now I’m over 80, but I have more work to do than what I’ve done. I only think of devoting the rest of my life to the work for the prosperity of the country and the happiness of the people.

Ko Chol Hwa