金復의 둔전병제 독립운동과 興華實業銀行

Kim Bok’s Farmer-Soldier Independence Movement and Heunghwa Industrial Bank

This paper examines the background behind the launch of Heunghwa Industrial Bank(HIB)－a Korea-China joint venture, the farmer-soldier system, process of establishing HIB, and the cause of HIB’s failure. Heunghwa Industrial Bank, which was launched in November 1919, was the result of Korea-China alliance formed by Korean independence activists and Chinese revolutionaries around the time of the Chinese Revolution. The man who connected the Korean side with Chinese revolutionaries was Kim Bok. The bank was launched with the ultimate goal of carrying out independence movement based on the farmer-soldier system. Kim Bok moved to Beijing and partnered with Park Yong-man in pressing forward with military unification activities and the farmer-soldier system. In the process, HIB was established on May 13, 1922. HIB began official operations despite a shortage of funds. However, as raising capital from the Korean side proved to be a challenge, the bank’s business went downhill. Distrust of Koreans such as Kim Bok ran deep and Chinese participants resigned or absconded. Making matters worse, bank funds were embezzled taking advantage of mismanaged account books. As a result, depositors filed a lawsuit against HIB for fraud, rendering the bank inoperable. Afterwards, Kim Bok and Park Yong-man were labeled fraudsters and were left with little room for maneuver. The reasons behind the failure of HIB lie deeper down the surface. Clash of two lines of independence movement: namely, the diplomacy and preparation theory of the Provisional Government and Ahn Chang-ho and the farmer-soldier armed struggle theory pressed on by Kim Bok and Park Yong-man; consequentially worsened reputation of Kim Bok and Park Yong-man amid Koreans; weak economic foundation of the Korean community in Beijing; changing environment surrounding the Chinese Revolution; and the perception of Koreans in the minds of newly sought Chinese business partners all led to the inevitable failure of HIB. Although HIB was a failure, it was the first economic collaboration between Korea and China after the March 1st movement of Korea and May 4th movement of China. The bank was also the funding institution for the farmer-soldier independence movement. As such, the historic significance of the bank is by no means negligible.