A Historical Study of the Railroad Construction by the Empire of Japan and the change of Eupchi in Modern Korea

근대 한국에 있어 일본제국에 의한 철도건설과 읍치의 변화에 관한 역사적 연구

This paper analyses the railroad trunk line constructed in the Korea since the end of the 19th century. The analysis consists of the following problematics. 1) The process of the decision of the railroad route 2) The relationship of the location of Eupchi and the stations By clarifying the above, the purpose of this paper is to clarify how the morphology of the city in Korea has been affected by the change in the relationship with Korea and Japan. The Empire of Japan has been reconnoitering the Korea since way before the formal contract for the railroad construction was signed. Therefore, the Empire of Japan had a very good understanding of the actual transportation system when it started the construction of the railroad. The railroad construction was used by the Empire of Japan to empower the control over the Korea. For this reason, the new railroad system was constructed as a different system from the former transportation system and the urban system was also affected. Also the relationship of the western powers and Japan around the turn of the 20th century defined the characteristic of the railway system as a pathway through the Korean peninsular to link Japan to the continent. Moreover, being apprehensive about the friction with the western, Japan located the railway stations to avoid the missionary land properties. This made it clear that the restraint relationship between Japan and the western affected the urban special structure.