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State and Concentration in Korea's First Republic, 1948–60

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Dennis L. Mcnamara
Dennis L. Mcnamara
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Abstract

Rapid growth among a few large firms distinguished the early years of cotton manufacture in South Korea. A review of expansion and concentration in the industry, and case studies of the T'aech'ang and Kyungbang firms, provide evidence of extensive structural support managed by the state, and also of favoured access to such support for the larger cotton mills. In contrast to earlier studies critical of the state role, I argue that the agencies and protectionist legislation of the state under Syngman Rhee played a productive, indeed decisive, role in promoting concentration and productivity among the early mills.

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Articles
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , October 1992 , pp. 701 - 718
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

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4 The following were the largest cotton manufacturing firms in the First Republic: T'aech'ang, Kŭmsŏng, Chŏnnam, Daihan, Chosŏn, Kyungbang, Tongyang, and Samho.

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13 Computed from statistics in Hyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, Sŏmyu yŏnbo 1960 [Textile annual, 1960] (Seoul, 1960). The hwan replaced the Korean won as the national currency in 1953. The won in turn replaced the hwan in June of 1962, with ten hwan worth one won. I list all currency here as won according to the latter exchange rate.Google Scholar

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27 Domestic manufacturers rather than the consumers benefited in the short-term. One knowledgeable observer complained in a local business journal that government controls led only to a cartel among domestic producers with cottons far more expensive than comparable imports. Taehan Sanggong Hoeŭiso [Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry’, Sanŏp Kyŏngje [The industrial economy] (September 1958): 26–9; Taehan Pangjik Hyŏphoe, A Twenty Year History, pp. 259, 474;Google ScholarFrank, et al. , Foreign Trade Regimes.Google Scholar

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33 The Paek family of T'aech'ang Spinning and Weaving originally prospered with cotton sales in Seoul's Chongno commercial district at the turn of the century. They diversified into a commercial firm, a trading company, and a textile manufacturing concern during the colonial years. Ch'oe Ae-myŏng, ‘Chaebŏl kiŏp mollaksa [A history of the decline of the chaebŏl]’, Wŏlgan Chŏson (April 1985): 510–28; Chōsen Shokusan Ginkō [Chōsen Industrial Bank], Chōsabu, , ‘Chōsen ni okeru hantōjin shihaika no kaisha jōsei [The condition of companies under local management in Korea]’, Shokugin Chōsa Geppō 65 (01 1940): 25–64. The family under Paek Nam-il later redirected its wealth into a larger textile manufacturing venture after the Korean War with the lease and purchase of a former Kanegafuchi plant.Google Scholar

34 Civil Property Custodian, Japanese External Assets as of August 1945, 30 09 1948, vol. 1, p. 75, available in National Archives Records Group 59;Google ScholarŬnhaeng, Hanguk Sanŏp, Hanguk sanŏp kyŏngje simnyŏnsa [A ten-year history of the Korean industrial economy, 1945–1955] (Seoul, 1955), p. 1077;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, Textile Annual 1955, sec. 3, p. 17;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, A Twenty Year History, p. 434.Google Scholar The purchase price of 170 million won can be found in Niblock et al. , ‘Report on Disposition of Former Japanese (Vested) Properties’, p. 8;Google Scholar also Tae-hwan, Kim, ‘A Study of the Korean Economy’, p. 183.Google Scholar

35 Niblock, et al. , ‘Report on Disposition of Former Japanese (Vested) Properties’, p. 12.Google Scholar

36 Hyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, Sŏmyu yŏnbo 1959 [Textile annual 1959] (Seoul, 1959), sec. 1, p. 5;Google ScholarHoeŭiso, Taehan Sanggong, The Industrial Economy (11 1959): 75, (02 1960): 72–3.Google Scholar

37 The judgement led to Paek's sale of the firm in 1963 to Sŏ Kap-hŏ of Sakamoto Spinning and Weaving. Taehan Pangjik Hyŏphoe, Textile Annual 1963, sec. 3, p. 154;Google ScholarHo, Pak Kil, ‘Sŏ Kap-hŏ, Sedae 3 4 (05 1965): 224–9.Google Scholar

38 McNamara, Dennis L., ‘Enterprise in Colonial Korea: Kim Youn-su’, Modern Asian Studies 221 (1988): 165–77;CrossRefGoogle ScholarEckert, Carter Joel, ‘The Colonial Origins of Korean Capitalism: the Koch'ang Kims and the Kyŏngsŏng Spinning and Weaving Company, 1876–1945’, (Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, 1986).Google Scholar

39 Hyŏphŏe, Taehan Pangjik, Textile Annual 1955, sec. 3, p. 127;Google ScholarTextile Annual 1960, sec. 3, p. 127;Google ScholarIn-hwan, Pak, Kyŏngbang yugsimnyŏn [Sixty years of Kyungbang] (Seoul, 1980), p. 519;Google ScholarŬnhaeng, Hanguk Sanop, A Ten Year History, p. 1077.Google Scholar

40 Hyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, Textile Annual 1955, sec. 1, pp. 6, 11–12;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, A Twenty Year History, p. 143.Google Scholar

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44 The big eight all appeared among the top thirty Korean firms in sales in 1965, with Kŭmsŏng, 'aech'ang/Sakamoto, and Kyungbang second, third, and fourth in the rankings. See yŏnhaphoe, Chŏnguk kyŏngjein [Federation of Korean Industries], Chŏngyŏngyŏn isimnyŏn [Twenty years of the Federation of Korean Industries] (Seoul, 1983), Table 5.Google Scholar