일제의 경제수탈과 개성의 삼업

The Economic Plundering of Japanese Colonial Rule and the Ginseng Industry of Gaesung

The policy of the ginseng industry by Japanese colonial rule influence had lots of influence on the economic life of Gaesung merchants and the economy of Korean peninsula. The purpose of this study is to examine how Korean people dealt with plundering policy of Japan and it also tried to clarify the reality of ginseng industry of Gaesung. This study put great emphasis on Koreans affirmative and positive ways in facing with difficult situations, which will add another dimension in studying the economic history under Japanese colonial rule. As a result it will effect the change of the direction of the studies of this area. Gaesung merchants who were engaged in the ginseng industry as well as the cultivation and sale of ginseng protected not only their own commercial right but also that of Koreans throughout the period of Yi-dynasty, Great Korea, and Japanese colonial rule. In the midst of appearance of lots of the colonial organizations relating with ginseng, a monopoly item, the merchants of Gaesung dominated the commerce of Gaesung. Ginseng which was grown in Gaesung and its outskirts was famous for its high quality. Because of that, Gaesung was designated as the special cultivation area of ginseng. That happened when the ruling power of the Residency-General increased, but ginseng merchants of Gaesung kept their right and gradually gained more profit. In 1910 the Choseon government-general legislated the monopolization law of red ginseng and then transferred it to Samjeong Product and provided them the right of monopolying exportation. But even under the unadvantageous law the ginseng industry was not plundered by Japanese colonial rule. The ginseng merchants of Gaesung confronted well against the finance regulation policy through the bank system and they also dealt well with the commercial capital of Japaense colonial rule. Through setting up lots of companies related with ginseng, they tried to increase sales. We can conclude that by keeping the ginseng industry from Japan, they made the ginseng industry of Gaesung our own.