¹ Woo, Ki Do, ‘Wages and Labor Productivity in the Cotton Spinning Industries of Japan, Korea, and Taiwan’, in The Developing Economies 16, 7 (06 1978): 182–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

² I use the term government to refer to the Rhee administration itself. The term state conveys Weber's notion of a wider binding order linking citizens, as well as citizen and government. Weber, Max, ‘The Fundamental Concepts of Sociology’, in The Theory of Economic and Social Organization (New York, 1964), p. 156. Stepan clarified the distinction with his definition of the state as ‘the continuous administrative, legal, bureaucratic and coercive systems that attempt not only to structure relations between civil society and public authority in a polity but also to stucture many crucial relationships within civil society as well.’Google ScholarStepan, Alfred, The State and Society: Peru in Comparative Perspective (Princeton, 1978), p. xii. The term state also best conveys the sense of the Korean word kugga, usually translated as ‘state’ or ‘nation’, especially with the emphasis on agency rather than simply solidarity.Google Scholar

³ Ŭnhaeng, Hanguk [Bank of Korea], Chosa wŏlbo [Monthly Research Review] (Nov. 1960): 158.Google Scholar

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

⁵ Kyong-dong, Kim, ‘Political Factors in the Formation of the Entrepreneurial Elite in South Korea’, Asian Survey 16, 5 (05 1976): 469;Google ScholarKi-jun, Cho, ‘Types of Entrepreneurs in the Modernization Process of the Korean Economy’, in the Asiatic Research Center (ed.), Report of the International Conference on the Problems of Modernization in Asia (Seoul, 1966), p. 623;Google ScholarMikio, Sumiya et al. (eds), Kankoku no kigyō keiei [The structure of Korean enterprise and administration] (Tokyo, 1977), p. 14.Google Scholar

⁶ Leibenstein contrasts zero-sum incentives ‘to hold wealth and to engage in other profitable activities that do not increase national output’, with positive sum incentives ‘that lead to increases in aggregate output’. The former promote zero-sum entrepreneurship benefiting solely the entrepreneur, but the latter promote positivesum entrepreneurship and ‘the productive creation of resources’, benefiting both society and the entrepreneur. Economic Backwardness and Economic Growth (New York, 1963), pp. 112–19.Google Scholar Jones and Sakong described chaebŏl accumulation in the First Republic as ‘zero-sum entrepreneurship’, associated with zero-sum incentives from the state. Jones, Leroy P. and Sakong, Il, Government, Business, and Entrepreneurship in Economic Development: the Korean Case ( Cambridge MA, 1980), pp. 269–70, 278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷ The wider effect of foreign aid on the economy has begun to receive scholarly attention. See Il-yong, Chŏng, ‘Wŏnjo kyŏngje ŭi chŏngae [The emergence of an aid-supported economy]’, in Tae-gŭn, Yi and Un-yŏng, Chŏng (eds), Hanguk chabonjuŭi ŭinon [Debate over Korean capitalism] (Seoul, 1984), pp. 133–62;Google ScholarTae-gŭn, Yi, ‘Ch'agwan kyŏngje ŭi chŏngae [The emergence of an economy supported by loans]’, in Tae-gŭn, Yi and Un-yŏng, Chŏng (eds), Hanguk chabonjuŭi ŭinon [Debate over Korean capitalism] (Seoul, 1984), pp. 163–92;Google ScholarYang-hwa, Kim, ‘Miguk ŭi taehan wŏnjo wa Hanguk ŭi kiŏ;ngje kujo [U.S. aid to Korea and the structure of the Korean economy]’, in Kŏn-ho, Song and Hyŏn-ch'ae, Pak (eds), Haebang sasimnyŏn ŭi chaeinsik [A reappraisal of forty years since liberation], vol. I (Seoul, 1985), pp. 227–74.Google Scholar

⁸ Tae-hwan, Kim, ‘1950 nyŏndae Hanguk kyŏngje ŭi yŏngu [A study of the Korean economy in the 1950s]’, in Tŏg-gyu, Chin et al. (eds), 1950 nyŏndae ŭi insik [An understanding of the 1950s] (Seoul, 1981), pp. 157–256.Google Scholar

⁹ South Korean Interim Government, Department of Commerce, Bureau of Textiles, ‘History of Bureau of Textiles’ (Seoul, 1948), p. 5, available in National Archives Records Group 407, Box 2098; Ŭnhaeng, Hanguk [Bank of Korea], Chosŏn kyŏngje yŏnbo 1948 [Korean economic annual, 1948] (Seoul, 1948), p. 101;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik [Spinners and Weavers Association of Korea], Pangjip isimnyŏnsa [A twenty-year history of the Spinners and Weavers Association of Korea] (Seoul, 1968), p. 129. The total does not include the 30,000 spindles of the locally owned Kyungbang Spinning.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Ŭnhaeng, Hanguk Sanŏp [Korean Reconstruction Bank], Sanŏp Ŭnhaeng wŏlbo [Monthly economic review] 59 (07 1960): 10, 94;Google ScholarŬnhaeng, Hanguk [Bank of Korea], Chosa Wŏlbo [Monthly research review] 14, 11 (11 1960): 153.Google Scholar

¹¹ Hyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, A Twenty Year History, pp. 253, 263; Myŏnbangjik top'yo 1966 [Cotton textile chart, 1966] (Seoul, 1966).Google Scholar

¹² Taehan Pangjik Hyŏphoe, Panghyŏp wŏlbo [Monthly Textile Bulletin] (December 1964): 89; Robert Donaldson, ‘Term-End Report’, 5 August 1958, p. 13, available at National Archives Records Group 469, Box 11. Total employment in the textile industry in 1962 reached 108,900, representing 31% of the total labor force in manufacturing. The industry accounted for 17.2% of value-added to GNP in 1962, and 15.4% in 1963. Hapdong News Agency, Korea Annual 1964 (Seoul, 1964), p. 283.Google Scholar Spindle Capacity is described in Economic Planning Board [Kyŏngje T'onggyebu], T'onggye yŏngam 1965 [Statistical annual, 1965] (Seoul, 1965), p. 141, Table 135.Google Scholar

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

¹⁴ Hyŏphoe, Taehan PangjikA Twenty Year History, p. 672.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Ŭnhaeng, Hanguk, Monthly Research Review (November 1960): 212; Irene Strickland et al., ‘The Cotton Textile Industry’, a report prepared by the U.N. Office of Economic Coordinator in Seoul, 7 August 1957, available in National Archives Records Group 469, Box 66.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Reeve, W. D., Republic of Korea (Oxford, 1963), p. 126;Google ScholarFrank, Charles R. Jr, Kim, Kwang Suk, and Westphal, Larry E., Foreign Trade Regimes and Economic Development: South Korea (New York, 1975). Local millers founded the Spinners and Weavers Association of Korea (SWAK) in 1947 to oversee purchase of raw cotton among private and state mills. As designated ‘end-user’ of aid-supplied raw cotton, SWAK represented all the major mills, effectively precluding supplies for non-members.Google Scholar See Yong-wan, Kim, ‘Panghyŏp chorip isimchunyŏn ŭl hoegohamyŏn [A reflection on twenty years since the founding of SWAK]’, Panghyŏp wŏlbo [Monthly Textile Bulletin] (04 1967): 11–13;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, Panghyŏp samju nyŏnsa [A thirty-year history of the Korean Spinners and Weavers Association] (Seoul, 1977);Google ScholarKorean Traders Association, Korean Trade Directory 1965 (Seoul, 1965), p. 95;Google ScholarYong-chu, Kim, ‘Kyŏngbang [Kyungbang Group]’, in Kyo-sik, Kim (ed.), Hanguk Chaebŏl [Korea's business groups] (Seoul, 1981), p. 132.Google Scholar SWAK adhered closely to government policy under the leadership of Kang Il-mea, who succeeded Kim Yong–wan of Kyangbang at the behest of Rhee's Liberal Party in 1952. Kang rose quickly in the industry as president of the state-owned Choson Spinning, and later took the firm private. Kim Yong–wan later described Kang as a ‘man of great influence because of close ties with President Rhee’. See Yong-wan, Kim, ‘Kyŏngbang [Kyungbang Group]’, in Kyo-sik, Kim (ed.), Hanguk chaebŏl [Korea's business groups] (Seoul, 1984), p. 135.Google Scholar

¹⁷ Frank, et al. , Foreign Trade Regimes, p. 35;Google ScholarYol, Lee Chang, ‘Korea's Exchange Rate Policy’, Koreana Quarterly 1, 2 (Winter 1959): 93–102; Yi Tong-uk, ‘Chabon ŭi ponwŏnjŏk ch'ukchŏk ŭi magam [Closing off the accumulation of concentrated capital]’, Taehan Sanggong Hoeŭiso [Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry], Sanŏp Kyŏngje (May/June 1959): 2–5.Google Scholar

¹⁸ The Ministry of Commerce and Industry estimated that only 36% of the textile plants and 33% of the machinery survived the Korean War. See Ministry of Commerce and Industry, ROK, ‘General Survey and Rehabilitation Programs of Industries in the Republic of Korea’, April 1953, p. 47, available in National Archives Records Group 469, Box 11. The prominent role of the local government, and relatively small role of direct foreign aid in purchase of new equipment in the aftermath of the Korean War, distinguished reconstruction efforts in textile machinery. See Robert Donaldson, ‘Term-End Report: Textiles’, p. 5, submitted to U.N. Office of Economic Coordinator, Korea, 31 July 1958, available in National Archives Records Group 469, Box 11.Google Scholar

¹⁹ I use official Korean Government exchange rates for conversion of won figures into U.S. dollar amounts. The exchange rate grew from 6 won per dollar in 1953 to 18 won per dollar the next year, and finally to 50 won per dollar from 1956. See Hanguk Ŭnhaeng [Bank of Korea], Kyŏngje t'onggye yŏnbo 1973 [Economic statistics yearbook 1973], p. 215;Google ScholarFrank, et al. , Foreign Trade Regimes, Table 3–1.Google Scholar

²⁰ Ŭnhaeng, Hanguk Sanŏp, ‘Hanguk myŏn pangjik kongŏp ŭi chaemu punsŏk [A financial analysis of the cotton spinning industry in Korea]’, Sanŏp Ŭnhaeng wŏlbo 19 (01 1957): 14–15;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan Pangjik, Textile Annual 1960, sec. 1, p. 132;Google ScholarHyŏphoe, Taehan PangjikA Twenty Year History, p. 136.Google Scholar

²¹ Strickland et al. , ‘The Cotton Textile Industry’, p. 4.Google Scholar

²² Niblock, Thomas C., Office of the UNC Economic Coordinator, ‘Report on Disposition of Former Japanese (Vested) Properties, August 1945–August 1956’, 4 December 1956, annexes F and I, available in National Archives Records Group 469, Box 55.Google Scholar

²³ Ŭnhaeng, Hanguk, Monthly Research Review (November 1960): 40–1, 48–9.Google Scholar

²⁴ Chong Il-yong, ‘The Emergence of an Aid-supported Economy’; Yi Tae-gŭn, ‘The Emergence of an Economy Supported by Loans’; Kim Yang-hwa, ‘U.S. Aid to Korea’; Young-iob, Chung, ‘U.S. Economic Aid to South Korea After World War II’, in Nahm, Andrew C. (ed.),American–Korean Relations, 1866–1976 (Kalamazoo, 1979), pp. 187–217;Google ScholarChul, Suh Sang, ‘Foreign Capital and Development Strategy in Korea’, Korean Studies 2 (1978): 67–94;Google ScholarKrueger, Anne O., The Development Role of the Foreign Aid Sector (Cambridge MA, 1979).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁵ Ŭnhaeng, Anne O., Monthly Research Review (November 1960): 210, 212.Google Scholar

²⁶ Comptroller General of the United States, ‘Examination of Economic and Technical Assistance Program for Korea International Cooperation Administration, Fiscal Years 1957–1961’ (Washington DC, 1962), pp. 102–4, available in National Archives Records Group 59.Google Scholar

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

²⁸ Sung-joo, Han, The Failure of Democracy in South Korea (Berkeley, 1974);Google ScholarKim, Joungwon A., Divided Korea: Politics of Development, 1947–1972 (Cambridge MA, 1975).CrossRefGoogle Scholar

²⁹ Chong-shik, Chung, ‘Political Parties and Funds in Korea’, Korean Affairs 3, 3 (12 1964): 288.Google Scholar

³⁰ Wiwŏnhoe, Kunsa Hyŏngmyŏng P'yŏnch'an, Hanguk Kunsa hyŏngmyŏngsa [A history of the military revolution], vol. 1, pt 1, pp. 80–97.Google Scholar

³¹ An article in a report of the Korea Reconstruction Bank, described the exchange rate for foreign exchange in the purchase of American cotton as ‘based on special favor from the government’. Hanguk Sanŏp Ŭnhaeng, ‘A Financial Analysis’, p. 14.Google Scholar

³² Yŏng-gyu, Ch'oe, Hanguk hyŏngmyŏng chaep'ansa [Korean revolution: a history of the prosecution], vol. 1 (Seoul, 1962), p. 989;Google ScholarWiwŏnhoe, Hanguk Yŏngam P'yŏnch'an, Hanguk yŏngam 1962 [Korea yearbook 1962] (Seoul, 1962), p. 206;Google ScholarTaehwan, Kim, ‘A Study of the Korean Economy’, p. 253.Google Scholar

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

⁴¹ Hoeŭiso, Taehan Sanggong, The Industrial Economy (December 1958): 75; Taehan Pangjik Hyŏphoe, Textile Annual 1959, sec. 1, p. 3.Google Scholar

⁴² Hoeŭiso, Taehan Sanggong, The Industrial Economy (November 1959): 75; Taehan Pangjik Hyŏphoe, Textile Annual 1969, sec. 1, p. 5.Google Scholar

⁴³ For further study of the colonial origins of industrial patterns in South Korea, see my Colonial Origins of Korean Enterprise, 1910–1945 (Cambridge, 1990);Google Scholar also , ‘The Keishō and the Korean Business Elite’, Journal of Asian Studies 48, 2 (05 1989): 313–23.Google Scholar

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