1950년대 군의 경제문제 개입과정 ― 공병대와 육군파견단의 활동을 중심으로 ―

Abstract

The military sector participated in the postwar economy reconstruction process by dispatching the engineer corps for the civic relief and restoration activities. In the beginning, the activities of the engineer corps were limited to rebuilding roads and bridges as well as relief activities for the war victims, but they expanded later into rebuilding schools and housings, helping harvests, and mending flood damages. Watching their activities, President Syngman Rhee sought to determine whether he could use the military to help recovering the business sector in addition to their basic restoration activities. As the labor strike at the Dae Han Coal Corporation (Taehan Sŏkt’an Kongsa) stalled, Rhee sent the army dispatch team to the site. The army dispatch team did not tackle the structural problems regarding the deficiency of capital and management funds within the company, but tried to solve more immediate problems by rationalizing the management by means of improving the transportation system and increasing the labor intensity. Rhee kept an eye on such activities. The Rhee government aimed at reconstructing the postwar Korea with the help of the U.S aids, but such a goal had not been accomplished for a long while due to the disagreements between Korea and the United States. Rhee thought that the military sector’s experience of managing a large organization and its strong impulse for business are imperative in the postwar reconstruction processes as he wanted to maximize the efficiency with minimum spending. Thus, in 1955, Rhee appointed Kim Il-Hwan as the Minister of Commerce & Industry, who had been as the chief of the army dispatch team to the Dae Han Coal Corporation, and Yi Ŭng-Chun as the Minister of Postal Service, who had served as the first Army Chief of Staff. In the 1950s, the activities of the engineer corps and the army dispatch team as well as the appointments of those with military backgrounds as the Ministers related to economic policies led to two important consequences: First, the economic development plans after the May 16 Military Coup d'état, 1960 were largely driven by the military sector, and Second, the military personnel dispatched to the state-run companies directly intervened with the national economic issues. After the military coup, the proud statement of the military sector that it would become the center of political reforms and solution for economic crises ought to be understood in terms of their activities and trajectories in the 1950s.