일제강점기 대전 조선인 상계의 성립과 전개 = The Formation and Development of the Korean Commercial Community in Daejeon during the Japanese Colonial Period

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Daejeon was a city that emerged with the migration of Japanese settlers following the construction of the Gyeongbu Railway. This study examines the background and process through which a Korean commercial community was formed in Daejeon—then largely a city dominated by Japanese residents during the Japanese colonial period—focusing on the Daejeon Yaknyeong Market(大田藥令市). Reestablished in 1914, the Daejeon Yaknyeong Market developed on the basis of long-distance collection and distribution of medicinal herbs, forming a trading network that connected various regions of Korea as well as Manchuria. The market was operated by the Daejeon Yaknyeong Association, composed of Korean medicinal herb merchants and traditional medical practitioners. The association was responsible for the overall management of the market, including determining market schedules, recruiting merchants, arranging transportation and storage of medicinal materials, mediating transactions, and settling payments. In this process, the Daejeon Yaknyeong Market functioned not merely as a marketplace but as the only “Korean-centered economic institution” in Daejeon centered on Korean merchants.
The establishment of the Seonnam Warehouse Company(鮮南倉庫株式會社) in 1929 illustrates the operational structure of this Korean-centered economic sphere built around the Yaknyeong Market. The company supported market transactions by providing warehouse services, financial assistance, and consignment sales, thereby facilitating capital circulation and commercial activities among Korean merchants. In the early to mid-1930s, Daejeon experienced considerable social and economic turbulence due to a rapid influx of population following the relocation of the Chungnam Provincial Government Office and the subsequent elevation of Daejeon to city status (Daejeon-bu). Despite these changes, the Korean commercial sector gradually expanded its economic base and increased its share within the regional economy through capital accumulation and institutionalization under the prosperity of the Yaknyeong Market and the managerial functions of the Seonnam Warehouse Company.
At the same time, rather than forming a completely independent economic bloc, Korean merchant elites in Daejeon chose to integrate into Japanese-led economic organizations such as the Daejeon Chamber of Commerce and Industry. By positioning themselves within a hierarchical relationship with Japanese merchants, they sought a strategy of coexistence and pragmatic survival within the colonial urban economy.