Saemaul Undong: South Korea’s Rural Revolution & Global Blueprint for Development
The Saemaul Undong Revolution: How South Korea's Village Movement Can Solve Today's Rural Crisis A comprehensive analysis of history's most successful grassroots development program and its relevance for 21st-century challenges The Crisis That Started Everything In 1970, South Korea faced a rural apocalypse. War-torn villages struggled with medieval infrastructure while cities boomed. The income gap between urban and rural areas had reached a staggering 2.2:1 ratio, threatening national stability. President Park Chung-hee's response? The Saemaul Undong (새마을운동) – literally "New Village Movement" – would become the world's most documented grassroots development success story. The Pre-Saemaul Reality Rural poverty rate: 28.9% (1970) Access to electricity: Less than 15% of villages Paved roads: Virtually non-existent in rural areas Youth migration: 200,000+ annually fleeing to cities South Korea Rural Statistics 1960-1970 Understand...