태평양전쟁기 일제의소형용광로건설사업 추진과 귀결

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to disclose the full account of the ‘Small Blast Furnace Construction Project’, which was one of the major wartime policies of the Japanese Empire during the Pacific War period. The study specifically analyzed the planning process, beginning from the second half of 1942, the unfolding of the project, and its results and limitations. The purpose of promoting the said project was to increase the production of the critical war supplies of steel, and to counteract the increasing seriousness of transportation difficulties. While the Japanese aimed at increasing production of pig iron by constructing small scale blast furnaces at iron ore production areas on the one hand, they also conceived of a plan to mitigate the burden of iron ore transportation by supplying it to Japan. The content of the project involved completing the concentrated construction of mainly 181 twenty-ton small blast furnaces at the iron ore and coal production areas in Joseon, China (Northern and Central China), Mongolia, and Taiwan within the year 1943, in order to produce 500 thousand tons of pig iron that was to be supplied to Japan. The main agent of construction and management was the state-run Japan Iron & Steel Co., Ltd., and steel manufacturing companies including Japanese zaibatsu, local steel mills and coal-mining companies were in charge. The results of the project were poor, with below 30% of the intended production goal, and only 50% of the pig iron produced was supplied to Japan. The reasons for the poor results included the technological problems of blast furnace operation, supply difficulties for tools and materials necessary for the construction, and the shortage of personnel including engineers and skilled workers. By region, the failure to resolve the problem of using anthracite as fuel resulted in poor performance in Joseon, while issues with the company in charge and the frequent change in local circumstances factored as the reason for poor performance in China.