Offspring of Empire: The Koch'ang Kims and the Colonial Origins of Korean Capitalism, 1876-1945

2. An Industrial Bourgeoisie: Transition and Emergence, 1919 - 45

CHAPTER 2 An Industrial Bourgeoisie Transition and Emergence, 1919-45 The year 1919 was in many ways a watershed in modern Korean history . It is best remembered today for its politics, for the idealism and unity of March First independence movement, when Koreans from all walks of life joined together in a massive nationwide protest against Japanese domination - before the reality of Japanese power and the bitter class divisions of the colony's subsequent industrialization turned such naIve faith and simple harmony to ashes. But in retrospect 1919 was also an important turning point in Korea's socioeconomic development, as the merchants and landlords who had accumulated substantial amounts of capital before 1919 began to take a serious interest in modern industry. In the period that followed, Korea experienced its first great surge of industrialization, and although it was Japanese capital that was given the starring role, Korean capital was also assigned a minor part in the development process. The result was the emergence between 1919 and 1945 of the country's first industrial bourgeoisie-of which the Koch'ang Kims were one of the most prominent examples. Earlier Industrial Efforts There were, of course, previous Korean efforts, both public and private , to develop modern industry in the country. Like the early Meiji authorities, the nineteenth-century Korean monarchy, under the prodding of progressive officials, established various industrial offices in the bureaucracy and even set up a few model factories in the Meiji manner. Thus an official textile department (Chikchoguk) and a model textile factory with European equipment and Chinese technicians could be seen in Korea as early as the mid-1880s.1 Such programs, however, do not seem to have been part of a determined and comprehensive goal of national industrial development as 27 28 THE RISE OF KOREAN CAPITALISM in Meiji Japan, but only half-hearted and poorly conceived attempts to mollify domestic and international pressure for reform. And lack of will was only one of the problems. The government could set such factories up, but even a more enthusiastic attitude than the government exhibited would not in itself have sufficed to keep the factories going indefinitely. The absence of a stable national financial system that could supply regular and sufficient working capital and a general dearth of Korean managers or private entrepreneurs willing and able to participate in industrial development ultimately rendered such facilities official white elephants. With the Kabo Reforms in 1894, the government finally began to take a more positive attitude toward industrial development. An official department of industry (combined with agriculture and commerce) was established, and for the first time retired officials (including those of the highest rank) were allowed and encouraged to engage in commercial pursuits.2 Such official exhortation, along with the gradual proliferation of study societies, newspapers, and magazines devoted to ideas of national "self-strengthening" through economic activity also seems to have helped to stimulate some private interest in industrial development . Thus from around the turn of the century some merchants and landlords, including politically well-placed yangban like Min Pyongsok, became involved in setting up small-scale private or semiprivate textile factories. Such landlord investment in nonagricultural sectors , however, was relatively limited before the 1920s. And more often than not landlord investments went into banking rather than manufacturing .3 Korean investments in the textile industry during this period fell far short of creating modern spinning and weaving operations. The zenith of the Korean textile industry's development before the 1920s, for example, was probably represented by the Kyongsong Cord Company (Kyongsong Chingnyu CH). This company had been founded in 1910 as an unlimited partnership but was converted to a joint-stock company in 1911 with an authorized capital of 100,000 yen.4 It is not known for sure who the actual founders of the company were, but the well-established landlord-yangban family that produced Yun Ch'iho and later Yun Poson seems very early on to have played a major role in the company's affairs.5 The company appears to have been one of the largest industrial enterprises established by Koreans before the Kim family founded the Kyongsong Spinning and Weaving Company (Kyongbang) in 1919 and also the first textile company in joint-stock form of which we have An Industrial Bourgeoisie 29 actual primary evidence. Although the capital was never fully paid up, it did reach 75,000 yen by 1917 and the...