• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.423-431
• /
• 2017

This study analyzed the educational background, career, and post-retirement activities of notable bureaucrats employed at Chosun Railway Bureau during the Japanese colonial period in Korea. First, significantly, most railway bureaucrats were of Japanese origin, being specialized in railway operations and adjusted to occupation in a reserved organizational environment for a considerable time period. Second, the Japanese showed explicit eagerness to work at the Chosun Railway, which fitted their ideology of railway bureaucrats. In addition, almost 60% of the bureaucrat population had strong educational experience from Tokyo Imperial University, which is equal to the percentage of graduates from other institutions operating during the Japanese colonial period. Moreover, in the very early period of building the railway system, the demand for specialists was higher than for other jobs and divisions because of the railroad's complex infrastructure, which resulted in high job appointment rates. In a similar sense, based on a strong affiliation of bureaucrats with railways, the number of bureaucrats from Japanese Railway Worker's Bureau was higher initially because of bureaucrats from South Manchurian Railway Company. These changes essentially contributed to alteration of bureaucrats' awareness and created a more positive attitude regarding the Chosun Railway. In the meantime, as opposed to the Taiwan and Manchurian Railways, both Chosun Railway and the Taiwan Railway were operated in compliance with strong bureaucratic traditions.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.151-162
• /
• 2013

This paper presents a comparison of Korean and Manchurian railway system during the Japanese colonial era of Korea. While both railways share the common characteristics of an imperial railway, they revealed several differences. Firstly, the Manchurian railway was likely a private company, although it was operated half privately and half by the government. The Manchurian railway operated like the East Indian Company in India during the English colonial era. On the other hand, the Korean railway was fully operated by the government at a ministry level. While the Korean railway solely concentrated on the railway, the Manchurian railway was involved in regional development and the coal-mining industry as well. Secondly, in contrast to the Korean railway, the Manchurian railway was more lucrative, and was relatively more predominant regarding carriage of freights. Thirdly, railway officers in Korea were elected government bureaucrats, while Manchurian railway officers came from diverse political parties and social strata. After the annexation by the Kwantung Army, the Manchurian railway was mainly influenced by the military. The common characteristic here was that both railways were utilized for military purposes as imperial railways. In partilcular, the Manchurian railway executed military orders directly. Hereafter, through a comparative study between the Japanese and Taiwanese railways, a clear and accurate understanding of the characteristics of the Korean railway during the Japanese era will be revealed.