The New Community Movement, also known as the New Village Movement or Saemaul Movement, was a political initiative launched on April 22, 1970 by South Korean president Park Chung Hee to modernize the rural South Korean economy. The idea was based on the Korean traditional communalism called Hyang-yak and Doorae, which provided the rules for self-governing and cooperation in traditional Korean communities. The movement initially sought to rectify the growing disparity of the standard of living between the nation's urban centres, 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 and increasing community income. Though hailed as a great success in the 1970s, the movement lost momentum during the 1980s as economic situation and political environment in South Korea changed rapidly.
Read more about New Community Movement: Overview, Basic Steps, Going International
Famous quotes containing the words community and/or movement:
“When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Deuteronomy 17:14,15.
“Later
Some movement is reversed and the urgent masks
Speed toward a totally unexpected end
Like clocks out of control.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)