Retrospect on the Development of the Shipping Industry in Korea, 1910-1950

Three wide-spread opinions were set in as orthodox in the Korea's shipping society as for the development of Korea's shipping industry. Firstly, the ocean-going shipping industry of Korea started from the scratch. Secondly, Korea took the reversed step compared with the pattern in advanced countries in that higher maritime educational institutions were established prior to acquiring vessels. Thirdly, the shipping industry of Korea has been led by marine officers. All of these opinions were based on the viewpoint that the Japanese colonial government on the Korean Peninsula was not for the Korean people while most of the modern systems of law, education and transportation, including shipping, were introduced to the Korean Peninsula by Japan. During the colonial period, the Japanese colonial government established Chosun Yusen Company in 1912 and the Merchant Marine College in 1919, implicating that Korean people could merely rebuild their own shipping industry with the remaining physical capital (vessels) and the human capital (seafarers) after the Japanese colonial government's expulsion in 1945. In this paper, we challenge such orthodox viewpoints by carefully reconstructing the historical facts on the Korean shipping, especially on the origin of the modern shipping industry in Korea from 1910 to 1950.