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The operation of sanitation projects by the the Gyeongseongbu Sanitation Division during the 1930s

  • International Journal of Glocal Language and Literary Studies(약칭: IGLL)
  • Abbr : IGLL
  • 2024, (16), pp.149~167
  • DOI : 10.23073/riks.2024..16.012
  • Publisher : Glocal Institute of Language and Literary Studies(GILLS)
  • Research Area : Humanities > Other Humanities
  • Received : May 15, 2024
  • Accepted : June 15, 2024
  • Published : June 30, 2024

Baek Seon Lye 1

1국사편찬위원회

Accredited

ABSTRACT

This article first examines the Gyeongseongbu(京城府) Sanitation Division(衛生課), the body responsible for implementing sanitation projects. While the Gyeonggi-do Police Department’s Sanitation Division was established in the early 1920s, the Gyeongseongbu Sanitation Division was created after 1925. Apart from Gyeongseongbu, only Pyongyang had its own Sanitation Division in 1939. It is necessary to redefinetherole of the Gyeongseongbu Sanitation Division considering the existence of a separate Prefecture Sanitation Division from an early stage. The Gyeongseongbu Sanitation Division consisted of sanitary engineers, sanitation technicians, cleaning supervisors, and cleaning patrols. Cleaning supervisors and patrols accounted for more than half of the personnel. This was because sewage cleaning, which they primarily handled, was a major project of the Gyeongseongbu. Additionally, the chief of the Sanitation Division was mainly a sanitation engineer, while the chief of the cleaning supervisory department was mainly a police bureaucrat. This was done to maintain a balance between sanitation specialists and police bureaucrats within thesanitation division. Sanitation projects implemented by the Gyeongseongbu Sanitation Division included road sprinkling, infectious disease prevention, sewage cleaning, sanitation testing, cemeteries, crematoriums, and slaughterhouses. Expenditure distribution varied depending on the nature of the project. Some projects had a higher proportion of salary expenses, while others had higher accommodation expenses. Sewage cleaning and infectious disease prevention, in particular, often exceeded budgets due to unpredictable sewage volume and disease occurrences. However, generally, actual expenditures often did not exceed the budget, especially worsening after 1940, where a significant portion of the budget was carried over without being spent. Methods to reduce expenditure included hiring low-ranking personnel, delaying vacancies without replenishment, reducing travel and night shifts to cut labor costs. Additionally, savings were made on equipment, repair, and miscellaneous expenses, reducing the cost of improvements and renovations, and extending the period of use as much as possible. In some respects, the Gyeongseongbu was ableto managesanitation projects in this way becauseit was the Gyeongseongbu. The scale of Gyeongseongbu’s expenditures was by far larger than those of other prefectures. Analyzing the expenditure settlement of Gyeongseongbu sanitation projects in the 1930s, before the full-scale mobilization period, is meaningful in terms of observing the largest sanitation projects undertaken in colonial Korea. However, while this article hasexamined thesanitation projects of Gyeongseongbu as a “capital,” it could not delve deeply enough into the aspects where the colonial nature of Gyeongseongbu as a “colonial” capital becomes apparent.

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