Strong economic growth in the Republic of Korea has gained the attention of scholars, policymakers, and businessmen. Effective state strategies and concentration in private enterprise have enkindled keen interest in the role of the state and the large business combines or chaebŏl. The entrepreneurs and firms, planning and accomplishments of the past two decades have drawn most of the attention thus far. We find much less concern for the origins of Korea's development model in the First Republic (1948–60) under Syngman Rhee, or her earlier experience under Japanese colonial rule (1910–45). I began this study of business–state relations in colonial society with the aim of better understanding earlier patterns of capitalism on the peninsula. The relevance of the initial patterns for both the state and large-scale enterprise in postcolonial South Korea quickly became apparent.

The study of business–state relations falls well within the sociological tradition of C. Wright Mills and his emphasis on both “history” and “biography,” and the institutions where they meet and define what we know as society. My interest in colonial society has been influenced by the work of French scholars such as Maunier and Balandier and their attention to the interactions between colonizers and the colonized in the “colonial situation,” rather than to wider issues of competition among imperial powers or contrasting styles of colonial rule.