The general contractor business in South Korea settled in the railway construction during the Daehan Empire, but depending on the construction intention and circumstances of the railroad, relationship among employer-contractor-subcontractor and their roles under the system of the construction process had changed. At the time of laying the Gyeongin and Gyeongbu-rail, the Empire, which had no capital and technology, passed all the power and responsibility of the rail laying to the contractor, who was involved in most of the process. After this, the empire tried to lay Gyeongui-railroad without the help of other countries. Japan prepared for the Russo-Japanese War and decided to construct the railway rapidly, and completed the railway in parallel with direct management work and contract work. From that time on, the general contractor would only do the work. During the construction of railroad in Daehan empire, the general contract business system was established. The ambiguous process was sorted out and divided. At this time, subjects in charge of design and construction has been divided. The internal organization of the project owner and the contractor were organaized and specialized.

The purpose of this study is to examine the construction industry of Korea from the 1920s to the 1930s by analyzing activities of construction-contractors trying to overcome the recession of the construction industry and intensified competition in the industry. In this paper, I looked at the activities of Hanazono Sakichi as concrete examples. First of all, with the strategy of the vertical integration, by manufacturing and selling building materials, Hanazono Sakichi expanded his company and the scope of contract business. The second, he attempted to diversify related projects. Through related diversification, he seemed to have earned not only land management profit but also advantages from related construction. These aspects were not only seen by Hanazono’s activities but also by other contractors’. On the other hand, a few contractors have taken over a trust company to secure the funds for land management. Attempts to maximize personal interests through the expansion and diversification of contractors' business can be seen as overcoming the pre-1920s environment, where almost construct works were ordered under the government, and creating opportunities for the private sector to work and make profit by themselves. In the end, it can be mentioned that ‘the contractor’ established ‘the construction industry’ through this process.

This study deals with construction contract bid-rigging by Japanese contractors who monopolized the construction market of the Korean Peninsula during the Japanese colonial rule, and investigates the abuses of the contract bid-rigging. First of all, construction contract bid-rigging in Korea was triggered by Japanese construction contractors and contract brokers, who had savored the benefits of bidrigging in Japan and had repeated the bid-rigging in Korea since 1903. Second, the agency played a significant role to mediate construction contractors, and existed throughout the Japanese colonial rule on the Korean Peninsula with changing their names. Most of them were engaged in major contract bid-rigging scandals. Among them was Construction Association of Korea, which existed for over 13 years. The agencies had took part in governmental services since the mid-1930s when Japan exploited Korean people during wartime, and focused on sweating human resources for the constructions. Third, one of the biggest construction bid-rigging scandals during the Japanese colonial rule was "the 1st and 2nd scandal on Daegu construction contract bid-rigging." Indeed, the second scandal paved the way for the serial scandals: "Kyeongseong construction contract bid-rigging scandal", "Busan construction contract bid-rigging scandal", and other cases throughout the nation. Fourth, along with the contract bid-rigging cases related to the Japanese Government-General of Korea and local authorities, bid-riggings firmly took rooted in local governments' farmland reclamation projects in the 1920s and the poor relief services in the 1930s. The "bid-rigging charges" forced contractors to compensate their losses with exploiting material costs and labor costs, generating serious problems. The construction contract bid-rigging enabled Japan to monopolize the construction industry and to sweat farmers on the Korean Peninsula. Against this backdrop, contract bid-rigging by Japanese construction contractors during the its colonization made Korean contractors ruled out, and helped Japanese monopolize the industry. A large amount of bid-rigging charges drove Japanese contractors to do fraudulent work with cheap materials and to exploit Korean labor force.