• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.489-501
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• 2015

This paper analyses the decision process of the Gilhoe Line construction of the Manchurian Railway and consignment process of the North Korea Line to the South Manchuria Railways as part of the 12-year Chosun railway plan. It was found that these two events were connected and could be explained by Japan's consistent continental policy, which had expanded its territory toward China. This paper explicates Japan's railroad policy and the characteristics of the Chosun railway. Moreover, evidence to identify connections among Japan's national railway, the Manchurian railway, and the Chosun railway has been scrutinized. One territory policy between Chosun and Manchuria is also examined. Comparison of new resources on the Gilhoe Line construction of the Manchurian railway and the 12-year plan of the Chosun railway, and their correlations, is expounded. This paper elucidates that the Gilhoe Line construction and the North Korea line consignment operation by the South Manchuria Railways had the intention of obtaining Japanese military and economic supremacy over East Asia.