Japan's return to the lifting the g old export ban and trends in colonial Joseon in the late 1920s and early 30s

This article examines the perception and impact of Japan's lifting of the gold export ban in colonial Joseon in 1930. The international gold standard, which was suspended due to World War I, was restored in the mid-1920s. Japan decided to lift the gold export ban in 1929, citing the restoration of the international gold standard as an external reason, and the economic instability caused by declining and frequently fluctuating exchange rates as an internal reason. In colonial Joseon, concerns about the problems that would arise from lifting the gold export ba n, specifica lly the impa ct of a usterity policies, outweighed any anticipated benefits. According to the revaluation method chosen by Japan, a recession due to falling prices and rising interest rates was inevitable. At that time, the general outlook in Joseon was that monetary contraction due to austerity policies, along with falling prices and rising interest rates, would lead to an economic downturn. In Joseon, where farmers made up the overwhelming majority, there was significant concern about reduced income due to falling rice prices and credit crunches due to rising interest rates. The austerity policies were shifting the burden of the recession onto the weak, transferring it from capitalists to laborers, and from mainland Japan to Joseon. Unlike Japan, colonial Joseon lacked a social safety net, ma king the ha rdships ca used by a usterity a ll the more severe for its people.