근현대 한국의 광업 개발과 ‘공해(公害)’라는 느린 폭력

Abstract

The mining industry of Korea has long positioned itself as a national strategic industry. The mining industry was encouraged and fostered at the national level to support the finances and wars of the Japanese Empire during the colonial period, and then to stimulate postcolonial “modernization of homeland” after Korean independence. In the shadow of the national industry, however, damage from environmental pollution persisted near mines and refineries. Red waste water seeped into drinking water sources, black exhaust blanketed villages, and people suffered from skin diseases, nervous disorders, and cancer. Environmental pollution, which was treated as a minor problem secondary to the national goal of increasing mineral production, symbolizes the history of slow violence evident in the development of Korea. This study summarizes Korea’s mining history from the colonial period to the present day, and examines the damage of environmental pollution produced by the mining industry and the history of regulation in response to this damage, with a particular emphasis on the “slow violence” created by “wastes” and “dangers,” in a new approach to the history of economic development in Korea.