Imperial Central Chamber of Commerce and the Defense of Commercial Rights

Seoul’s licensed market merchants formed the Imperial Central Chamber of Commerce to stop foreign merchants trading inside the city walls and to defend their commercial rights.

After the Sino-Korean trade regulations of 1882, Qing merchants opened shops inside Seoul and, with Japanese merchants, pushed into the interior. The licensed merchants of the city closed their shops in protest several times, demanding that foreign traders be moved outside the walls.

In 1898 they formed the Imperial Central Chamber of Commerce, calling for a ban on foreign business inside the walls. It joined the Independence Club in the People’s Joint Association but lost its force when the club was dissolved at the end of that year. Merchants had already set up trading companies such as Daedong Sanghoe and Jangtong Hoesa in the 1880s, and in the late 1890s Korean banks such as the Bank of Joseon, Hanseong Bank and Daehan Cheonil Bank were founded.