Location of central managerial function and classification of main cities in Korea under Japanese colonial rule

Abstract

Study of the location of central managerial function has mainly focused on investigating the accumulation of central managerial function as a whole. However, it is also important to examine different aspects of central managerial function, such as economic central managerial function and administrative central managerial function. Especially, in non-European countries, it has often been the case that there was a great difference between the location of economic central managerial function and that of administrative central managerial function at the beginning of the modern age. Administrative central managerial function was located in traditional cities, while economic central managerial function was mainly located in new port cities that developed after the beginning of trade with foreign countries. This difference between the location of the different aspects of central managerial function, a "dual structure," has significantly influenced the location of central managerial function. This article investigates the location of economic and administrative central managerial functions in Korea during the period of Japanese colonial rule, taking account of the changing influence by the dual structure. Economic central managerial function is represented by the number of enterprises, and administrative central managerial function is represented by the number of government offices. The results are as follows: 1. In the early 1910s, shortly after it was annexed to Japan, the location of central managerial function in Korea was strongly influenced by the dual structure. Economic central managerial function was located in new cities, while administrative central managerial function was located in traditional cities. No main city accumulated both economic and administrative central managerial functions, except for Seoul. 2. In the mid-1920s, although the dual structure still influenced the location of central managerial function, new types of cities appeared. One type was traditional provincial capitals such as Taegu and Pyongyang, which accumulated economic central managerial function. Another type was new cities which became new provincial capitals and accumulated not only economic but also administrative central managerial function, such as Pusan and Sinuiju. 3. In the early 1940s, when Korea was incorporated into the wartime system, many cities in northern Korea strengthened their economic central managerial function under the influence of industrialization. At the same time, some government offices were newly established, which complicated the relation of jurisdiction between cities. Because of these, although traditional cities were still superior to new cities in terms of accumulation of administrative central managerial function, the dual structure was weakened to a great extent. After the above analyses, the main cities of Korea are classified according to the location of economic and administrative central managerial functions. There are mainly, three types of cities (Fig. 2), excluding Seoul: Type A: Cities with more accumulation of administrative central managerial function than of economic central managerial function; Type B: Cities with more accumulation of economic central managerial function than of administrative central managerial function; and Type C: Cities that accumulated economic central managerial function rapidly in wartime. Therefore, while the dual structure greatly influenced the location of central managerial function in Korea under Japanese colonial rule, it was gradually weakened, and regional central cities, such as Pyongyang, Pusan and Taegu developed.