중일전쟁기 조선총독부의 금집중 정책

The Gold Centralization Policies of the Japanese Government-General in Colonial Korea during the Sino-Japanese War

This study aims to explain the gold centralization policies in Korea under Japanese colonial rule during the Sino-Japanese War. The Government-General in Korea established a gold distribution system in order to centralize gold, which was the international method of payment, within the Japanese government. However, due to low purchasing prices, hoarding, smuggling and the moral hazard of Korean gold purchasers, some of the gold in colonial Korea was never transferred to the Japanese government. In order to solve this problem, the Government-General modified its policy taking the situations into consideration. It established the Korean Gold Purchasing Company (Chosŏnsangummaeib) and set up a policing force to supervise illegal exports of gold and finally installed a new incentive system that rewarded anyone who reported gold transactions on the black-market. Yet, due to the Government-General’s concern about any possible agitation by Koreans, authorities decided to postpone any survey on how much gold was held by the civilian population. Instead, the Government-General made great efforts to use the Movement to Mobilize the National Spirit through which to encourage Koreans to sell their gold voluntarily. This line of action by the Government-General showed how conditions in colonial Korea restricted the economic policies of the Government-General. As the war expanded and the economic control was strengthened, the difference between the gold centralization policies of the Japanese government and those of the Government-General was reduced.