해방 전후 삼화제철(주)의 경영사 연구

Abstract

This study is a work of business history that examines logistical mobilization and entrepreneurial activities in colonies during the 1940s, the structure and characteristics of the Korean steel industry in wartime, and its steel production capacity from wartime to post-liberation, with a focus on the formation and business operations of Korekawa Steel Co., Ltd. in the 1940s and Samhwa Steel Co., Ltd. after the liberation of Korea in 1945. The founder of Korekawa Steel established with a capital of one million Korean won at the end of 1943 is Korekawa Kinnzou who was widely known as an “undaunted entrepreneur” in the colonial period and a “daring adventurer” in the postwar Japanese stock market. In the 1940s, after founding the steel company with full support from the Japanese Government-General of Korea and government-run Oriental Development Company, Korekawa pushed forward the business of small-scale furnace-based steelmaking with the facility funds of Industrial Facilities Corporation, a government-run financial institution, and working funds of Wartime Finance Bank. However, Korekawa Steel experienced poor operational performance due to technical failures in anthracite steelmaking, serious resource limitations, and sharply increased costs. The corporate governance of Korekawa Steel was so weak and vulnerable that it was impossible for the company to maintain its business status without financial assistance and active support from the government. After liberation, Korekawa Steel was succeeded by Samhwa Steel Corporation, but since wartime it had failed to overcome resource and technical limitations and its operations had remained in serious trouble. In May 1958, Samhwa Steel Corporation was eventually sold to Seol Dosik, president of Beomhan Trading Co., Ltd., making a fresh start as Korea’s first private steel company under the name of Samhwa Steel Co., Ltd. However, the relaunched company still struggled with poor operational performance even after the sale. In October 1973, Samhwa Steel was acquired by Dongkuk Steel Mill Co., Ltd. and reorganized into a quicklime calcination plant. In 1991, Daedong Construction Co., Ltd. acquired the Samhwa Steel Mill and dismantled its production facilities to work on the construction of apartment buildings on the site.