This paper investigates the historical implications of South Korea’s Leather Control Ordinance of 1948 by reconstructing its life cycle from enactment to repeal and by situating it within both domestic and international comparative contexts. Initially promulgated by the U.S. military government, the ordinance remained in force through the Korean War and was formally abolished only in 1957. Although leather occupied minor quantitative proportions within Korea’s modern economy, this paper demonstrates that it functioned as a representative commodity through which transformations in Korean society since the nineteenth century can be observed. The study develops along three lines. First, the 1948 ordinance revived, in a moderated form, the leather‐control policy introduced by Japan during the Sino–Japanese War for military procurement. Second, artificial restrictions imposed after liberation—on production, circulation, and interregional movement—generated conflicts and distortions among farmers, leather processors, and state actors. Third, leather controls differed from contemporary South Korea’s rationing schemes oriented toward civilian material welfare, exhibiting instead a clear military procurement logic comparable to Western wartime control regimes. Taken together, these findings reveal the extent to which the South Korean economy of the late 1940s and 1950s was deeply intertwined with political and military imperatives.

Authors:
Jongryong Park, The Academy of Korean Studies, South Korea

About the Presenter(s)
Dr Jongryong Park studies economic history of Korea and is currently a chief secretary to the president at The Academy of Korean Studies, Republic of Korea.

See this presentation on the full schedule – Monday Schedule

Bookmark