ABSTRACT
Trade across borders affects not only local commerce and local rule, but also ties between nations. Rice remained the leading export across late kingdom and colony, the basic staple of the Korean diet, and the leading sector of the agrarian economy. The merging of Korea into an interstate system of market relations under Japan forced a realignment of domestic commerce in conformity with markets beyond Korea. Although the Choson Dynasty maintained formal links as a tributary state of the Chinese Empire, informal commercial agreements permitted commerce also with Manchuria and Japan. Events in Manchuria and elsewhere on the Chinese mainland, and later the Pacific War led to a new phase of policy in the final fourteen years of colonial rule. Firms, trade associations, and the Grain Exchange gave shape and texture to a business community in the port cities.
