갑오정권의 농업정책

Abstract

This paper illustrates the agricultural policy of Gaboh government which was implemented in the year of 1894. The Gaboh government, launched in June 1894, reformed government organization by establishing two departments named ‘Department of Foreign Affairs’ and ‘Department of Agriculture and Commerce’. To be specific, the Department of Agriculture and Commerce consisted of ‘Bureau of Agriculture and Sericulture,’ ‘Bureau of Manufacture and Commerce,’ ‘Forestry Bureau,’ and ‘Promotion Bureau’, while the Department of Manufacture included ‘Communication Bureau,’ ‘Telegram Bureau,’ ‘Rail Bureau,’ and ‘Mine Bureau’. The purpose of these departments was to prosper modern commerce and industry. That is, the aim of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce was to promote private industry, agriculture, and commerce, whereas Department of Manufacture was targeted to lead large-scale national projects such as railways, mines, and postal services. The Gaboh government followed 1880s’ agricultural development policy, attracted private capital, and founded a company named ‘Company of agriculture and commerce approved by the government’. Its headquarter was located in Seoul and branches were located in a number of provinces. It was to push ahead with the agricultural development policy. When Japan won the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, they deeply intervened in Joseon’s domestic affairs. A Japanese diplomatic minister named Inowue forced Joseon government to merge Department of Agriculture and Commerce and Department of Manufacture. In fact, those two departments were merged in the year of 1895 and newly named as ‘Department of Industries’. The Department of Industries included ‘Bureau of Agriculture,’ ‘Bureau of Manufacture and Commerce,’ ‘Communications Bureau,’ and ‘Mine Bureau’. The goal of the department was to develop industries. After suppressing peasants’ war, the Gaboh government reinforced landowners to manage station land. By conducting station land’s survey in the year of 1895, not only government’s owned land but also private land has been included as station land. The Gaboh government’s station land survey strengthened national rights to territory and landowner management. Therefore, landowners of private land and public land disputed ownerships of their land.