A Study on Construction Contract Bid-rigging during the Japanese Colonial Rule

일제강점기 건설청부업단체의 담합에 관한 연구

This study deals with construction contract bid-rigging by Japanese contractors who monopolized the construction market of the Korean Peninsula during the Japanese colonial rule, and investigates the abuses of the contract bid-rigging. First of all, construction contract bid-rigging in Korea was triggered by Japanese construction contractors and contract brokers, who had savored the benefits of bidrigging in Japan and had repeated the bid-rigging in Korea since 1903. Second, the agency played a significant role to mediate construction contractors, and existed throughout the Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula with changing their names. Most of them were engaged in major contract bid-rigging scandals. Among them was Construction Association of Korea, which existed for over 13 years. The agencies had took part in governmental services since the mid-1930s when Japan exploited Korean people during wartime, and focused on sweating human resources for the constructions. Third, one of the biggest construction bid-rigging scandals during the Japanese colonial rule was "the 1st and 2nd scandal on Daegu construction contract bid-rigging." Indeed, the second scandal paved the way for the serial scandals: "Kyeongseong construction contract bid-rigging scandal", "Busan construction contract bid-rigging scandal", and other cases throughout the nation. Fourth, along with the contract bid-rigging cases related to the Japanese Government-General of Korea and local authorities, bid-riggings firmly took rooted in local governments' farmland reclamation projects in the 1920s and the poor relief services in the 1930s. The "bid-rigging charges" forced contractors to compensate their losses with exploiting material costs and labor costs, generating serious problems. The construction contract bid-rigging enabled Japan to monopolize the construction industry and to sweat farmers on the Korean Peninsula. Against this backdrop, contract bid-rigging by Japanese construction contractors during the its colonization made Korean contractors ruled out, and helped Japanese monopolize the industry. A large amount of bid-rigging charges drove Japanese contractors to do fraudulent work with cheap materials and to exploit Korean labor force.