개항기 조선상인과 일본상인 간의 자금거래와 곡물유통 －부산ㆍ경상지역 ‘양민교섭채안(兩民交涉債案)’의 분석을 중심으로 = Fund Transactions and Grain Distribution between Chosun’s and Japanese Merchants during the Period of Port Opening

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The purpose of this study is to analyze practices of grain trade between Chosun's
and Japanese merchants during the period of port opening and thereon determine
the significance of the practices to both the groups. Fund transactions between
Chosun's and Japanese merchants were a practice in which the former financed their
commercial activities and the latter preoccupied and intensively collect grains at the
time of their delivery. In most cases, Chosun’s merchants engaged in fund
transactions as mentioned above in order to finance their commercial activities. Such
transactions were usually arranged by commission agencies that were doing their
business around open ports and that obtained confidence by Japanese merchants
through general trades with them. These findings from the study demonstrate that
grains were exclusively supplied to Japanese merchants from dealers at inland places
of grain collection through commission agencies at open ports.
Such fund transactions as mentioned above allowed Japanese merchants to
preoccupy and intensively collect grains produced in Chosun. While Chosun’s
merchants got profits by difference in grain prices between inland places of grain
collection and open ports. The commission agencies that arranged the transactions
could obtain some benefit in the name of commission fee.
Chosun's merchants whose business was very small in scale became gradually
dependent on Japanese ones because the former could not avoid using the latter's
money to maintain their business. In other words, Japanese merchants lent
commercial funds to Chosun's small businesses which were having difficulty in
financing due to no national supports, ultimately ruling grain distribution in Chosun.
Such lending was arranged by commission agencies that were doing their activities
around open ports. This indicates that the structure of the distribution became
dependent on the capital of Japanese merchants through the agencies.