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The Saemaul Undong, also known as the New Community Movement, New Village Movement, Saemaul Movement or Saema'eul Movement, was a political initiative launched on April22, 1970 by South Korean president
Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...
to modernize the rural
South Korean economy The economy of South Korea is a Developed country, highly developed mixed economy. By nominal GDP, it has the List of countries by GDP (nominal), 5th largest economy in Asia and the List of countries by GDP (nominal), 13th largest in the worl ...
. The idea was based on the Korean traditional communalism called ''
Hyangyak The ''hyangyak'' was a contractual arrangement that allowed for a degree of local government in the history of Korea. During the rule of Jungjong (1506–1544), the contract was enforced by the local level officials. Specific details were circu ...
'' (향약, 鄕約) and ''
Dure The dure is a type of collective laboring operation within small farming communities of Korea. Farmers in a village work together on each other's farms, so that they can support each other as reducing the amount of work. In accordance with region ...
'' (두레), which provided the rules for
self-governance __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...
and cooperation in traditional Korean communities. The movement initially sought to rectify the growing disparity of the
standard of living Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual's quality ...
between the nation's urban centers, which were rapidly industrializing, and the small villages, which continued to be mired in poverty. Diligence, self-help and collaboration were the slogans to encourage community members to participate in the development process. The early stage of the movement focused on improving the basic living conditions and environments, whereas later projects concentrated on building rural
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
and increasing community
income Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...
. Though hailed as a great success by force in the 1970s, the movement lost momentum during the 1980s due to the unexpected
assassination of Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee, the third President of South Korea, was assassinated on October 26, 1979, during a dinner at the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) safehouse inside the Blue House presidential compound in Jongno District, Seoul, South K ...
.


Overview

The movement promoted
self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...
and
collaboration Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...
among the people during its first phase, as the central government provided a fixed amount of
raw material A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feedst ...
s to each of the participating villages free of charge and entrusted the locals to build whatever they wished with them. The government first selected 33,267 villages and provided 335 sacks of cement. 16,600 villages that demonstrated success were then granted additional resources of 500 sacks of cement and a ton of iron bars. The New Community Movement did much to improve
infrastructure Infrastructure is the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area, and encompasses the services and facilities necessary for its economy, households and firms to function. Infrastructure is composed of public and priv ...
in rural
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, bringing modernized facilities such as
irrigation system Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been develop ...
s,
bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
s and
road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...
s in rural communities. The program also marked the widespread appearance of orange tiled houses throughout the countryside, replacing the traditional
thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...
or ''choga-jip'' houses. Encouraged by the success in rural areas, the movement spread through
factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
and urban areas as well, and became a nationwide
modernization Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within societies. The "classical" theories of modernization of the 1950s and 1960s drew on sociological analyses of Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and a partial reading of Max Weber, ...
movement. However, despite the Saemaul Movement's great success in reducing
poverty Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
and improving
living conditions Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...
in rural areas during its first phase, income levels in urban areas were still higher than income levels in rural areas after the rapid
industrialization Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econo ...
of South Korea. The government-led movement with its highly
centralized Centralisation or centralization (see spelling differences) is the process by which the activities of an organisation, particularly those regarding planning and decision-making, framing strategy and policies become concentrated within a particu ...
organization proved to be efficient in the 1970s and early 1980s, but it became less effective after South Korea entered into a more developed and industrialized stage, which diminished the momentum of the movement. The relatively low income levels in rural areas compared to urban areas became a major political issue in the late 1980s – one that no government intervention was able to fully solve during the first phase – and the movement proved ultimately inadequate in addressing the larger problem of migration from the villages to the cities by the country's younger demographic. Moreover, the government-led centralized system caused
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...
, such as misuse of funding, and changed South Korea's environment. Recognizing these problems, the
South Korean government The Government of South Korea is the union government of the South Korea, Republic of Korea, created by the Constitution of South Korea as the executive, legislative and judicial authority of the republic. The president acts as the head of sta ...
changed the centralized structure of the movement by empowering
civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
. Many developing countries in Africa are paying attention to the implications of the Saemaul Undong. Through the program such as
Yonsei-KOICA Master's Degree Program YONSEI-KOICA Master's Degree Program is a master's degree program for public officials in developing countries jointly run by Yonsei University and KOICA. It aims to contribute to long-term development by enhancing the growth and stability of part ...
, the Korean government is helping officials working in developing countries to design and implement new policies and programs in the context of national development policies. A 2022 study attributed the initiative with shoring up support for
Park Chung-hee Park Chung-hee (, ; 14 November 1917 – 26 October 1979) was a South Korean politician and army general who served as the dictator of South Korea from 1961 until his assassination in 1979; ruling as an unelected military strongman from 1961 ...
's authoritarian regime. The initiative had persistent effects, leading to greater support for the dictator's daughter when she was democratically elected in 2012.


Criticism

During the late 1960s and 1970s when the policy started being implemented under the regime of President Park, local traditions and beliefs were suppressed, akin to the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...
in communist China which happened at the same time. The movement '' Misin tapa undong'' ("to defeat the worship of gods"), also described as "movement to destroy superstition") reached its peak during the ''Saemaul Undong'' period. Old
zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Z. sicula'') to large tr ...
trees that had stood at village entrances and have traditionally served as guardian figures were cut down in order to erase "superstition". Practitioners of
Korean shamanism Korean shamanism or Mu-ism is a religion from Korea. In the Korean language, alternative terms for the tradition are ''musok'' () and ''mugyo'' (무교, 巫敎). Scholars of religion have classified it as a folk religion. There is no central auth ...
were harassed, essentially destroying centuries old Korean traditions. In addition, Saemaul Undong meetings were often used to identify political dissidents and reinforce dedication to Park's military regime. Under The Presidential Trust Commission, it was found that 334 individuals were killed, 1,744 were killed, and 7,328 people were falsely incarcerated largely due to expressing anti-government beliefs in connection to Saemaul Udong.


Basic steps

The Korea Saemaul Undong Center explains how Saemaul Undong was practiced in the 1970s in South Korea in five steps: Step 1. Basic Arrangements #Three elements of Saemaul Undong: people, seed money, basic principles #Forming a Core Group 1: Leaders #Forming a Core Group 2: Working groups #Incorporating a Core Group 3: Existing organizations #Forming a Core Group 4: Sectoral organizations #Raising Seed Money 1: Through sample cooperative projects #Raising Seed Money 2: Through cooperative works Step 2: Operation of Projects #Establishing principles and standards for selecting projects #Planning a project #Persuading villagers 1: Setting a model to villagers #Persuading villagers 2: Encouraging 'you can do it’ spirit #Collecting consensus 1: Small group meetings #Collecting consensus 2: General meeting of villagers #Letting everybody play a part #Preparing and managing public property #Establishing the local Saemaul Movement Center #Encouraging 'we are the one' spirit #Cooperating with other communities and the government Step 3: Main Stage of Project Operation #Project 1 for living environment improvement: Improving the houses #Project 2 for living environment improvement: Eliminating inconveniences in the village #Project 3 for living environment improvement: Creating an environment for increasing income #Project 1 for income increase: Removing the obstacles #Project 2 for income increase: Launching cooperative projects #Project 3 for income increase: Commercializing things around you #Project 4 for income increase: Introducing new ideas #Project 5 for income increase: Modifying distribution system #Project 6 for income increase: Operating a factory #Consolidating community 1: Enhancing morals and communalism #Consolidating community 2: Providing a cultural center and other facilities #Consolidating community 3: Establishing a credit union Step 4: Final Stage of the Project #Sharing the results and celebrating the success #Sharing the long-term prospects #Stabilizing of joint funds #Encouraging the Activities of sectional organizations #Regularizing meetings for technology research #Establishing a village hall #Publishing a local newspaper #Establishing a partnership with other regions and government offices #Setting up a sisterhood relationship with foreign countries Step 5: Feedback at National Level # The government creates a favorable environment # The government provides supplies and funds # The government establishes a comprehensive support system # The government provides intensive information and technology education at the Saemaul Training Center


See also

* Order of Saemaeul Service Merit *
Demographics of South Korea This is a demography of the population of South Korea including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population. In June 2012, South Korea's popul ...
*
Economy of South Korea The economy of South Korea is a highly developed mixed economy. By nominal GDP, it has the 5th largest economy in Asia and the 13th largest in the world. South Korea is notable for its rapid economic development from an underdeveloped nati ...
*
History of South Korea The history of South Korea formally begins with the Japanese surrender on 2 September 1945. Noting that, South Korea and North Korea are entirely different countries, despite still being the same people and on the same peninsula. Backgroun ...
*
Chollima Movement The Chollima Movement () was a state-sponsored Stakhanovite movement in North Korea intended to promote rapid economic development. Launched in 1956 or 1958, the movement emphasized "ideological incentives to work harder" and the personal guidance ...


References


External links

* {{authority control Political history of South Korea Economic history of South Korea History of South Korea 1970 establishments in South Korea Agriculture in South Korea Rural economics