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The Dynamics of Management and Development of Mount Geumgang during the Japanese Colonial Period : Examining the 1930 “Conference on the Preservation and Management of Mt. Geumgang”

Son, Yong Seok 1

1서울시립대학교

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ABSTRACT

Through an examination of the context in which a series of meetings were held in the early 1930s regarding Geumgangsan, as well as the specific discussions that took place at these meetings, this article aims to identify the historical pathways through which these meetings were organized in 1930 and to capture the different actors with different interests in the mountain. Externally, the meeting was set against the backdrop of concrete attempts to implement a national park system in Japan in the late 1920s. Internally, it was triggered by the 1929 Chosun Expo and the opening of the Geumgangsan Railway’s Danbaljeong Tunnel. The significant increase in the number of tourists visiting Geumgangsan made the governor general realize the value of Geumgangsan as a tourism resource, and the high evaluation of Geumgangsan by national park experts who participated in the 1929 Agriculture and Forestry Congress also contributed to the governor general’s decision to actively manage the mountain. At the meeting, which was chaired by the Chief Minister and attended by representatives from the General Administration, Gangwon Province, and Geumgangsan Electric Railway, the Ministry of Forestry made its position clear as the organizer of the meeting, based on the Governor General’s intention that it was appropriate for the Ministry of Forestry to take over the management of Geumgangsan. Geumgangsan Railway led the meeting by calling for the development of the Jangansa area of the Inner Geumgang River and the improvement of the main trail from the Inner Geumgang River through Birovong to the Outer Geumgang River. To this end, Geumgangsan appointed Matasaburo Ando, who has considerable experience in the railroad industry, as its executive director to increase its negotiating power with the governorate. One of the more stark disagreements between the two sides was how to finance the future development of Mount Kumgang. Geumgangsan Electric Railway proposed a budget of 1 million won over a 10-year period, but was immediately met with opposition from the Ministry of Railroads, which did not see the need to develop Geumgangsan as soon as it had completed its tourist attractions centered around the Onjeongri River. It was also extremely wary of further straining its budget after the Great Depression of 1929 and was reluctant to invest money in the development of Geumgangsan. In addition, internal circumstances such as the sudden death of Kume, the president of the Geumgangsan Electric Railway, and the resignation of Ando, who led the development of Geumgangsan, made it difficult to put additional budgetary pressure on the mountain. In response, the Ministry of Forestry of the Governor General tried to secure its own budget for the project, but this was unsuccessful, and the first steps toward the designation of Geumgangsan National Park were not smooth. Despite these limitations, the 1930 Conference on the Preservation of Geumgangsan served as an opportunity to expose and reconcile the positions of various actors who had established their own interests in the mountain after the Japanese occupation.

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