Saemaeul Undong Celebrates 50th Anniversary... Survives Budget Restructuring

Residents of Kankurumi Village, a Saemaul Undong self-sustaining village, are displaying products jointly produced in the village. Photo by Joint Press Corps

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] The 'Saemaul Undong,' a symbol of overcoming poverty, marks its 50th anniversary on the 22nd. Considering the COVID-19 pandemic, various external projects will be promoted this year, including discovering alternative initiatives, drawing attention.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 22nd, the ministry plans to carry out domestic and international projects related to Saemaul Undong support with a total budget of 5.246 billion KRW this year. However, during the budget restructuring process by ministries to provide emergency disaster relief funds, about 800 million KRW from the budget for training invitations for developing countries has been submitted to related agencies to be used for emergency disaster relief funds. If conditions permit in the future, alternative methods such as online lectures are also being considered.

The Saemaul Undong support project is divided into official development assistance (ODA) projects such as renovation and repair of domestic training center facilities and training invitations for developing countries, and has been ongoing for 12 years since 2009. Saemaul Undong began as a poverty eradication and rural reconstruction project in the 1970s led by the late President Park Chung-hee. It also symbolizes both an authoritarian government and rapid economic growth.

Regarding the budget, domestic support projects sharply decreased from 2.035 billion KRW in 2018 to 480 million KRW last year but increased again to 1.632 billion KRW this year. Instead, the customized Saemaul Undong support project, which actively promotes the domestic Saemaul Undong model abroad, has seen its budget increase annually?from about 2.987 billion KRW in 2018 to 3.098 billion KRW last year and approximately 3.614 billion KRW this year.

For external projects, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Saemaul Undong Central Association lead 100% government-subsidized projects. The goal is to establish successful development models by creating pilot villages locally, including training invitations.

The government’s perception of Saemaul Undong is also positive. Although there was a tendency to regard Saemaul Undong as a deep-rooted problem in the early days of the Moon Jae-in administration, President Moon personally attended last year’s National Saemaul Leaders Conference and stated in his congratulatory speech, "At the foundation of the Republic of Korea lies Saemaul Undong."

Meanwhile, to reflect on the significance of Saemaul Undong, 'Saemaul Day' was established as a national commemorative day by law (No. 10438) on March 8, 2011. In previous years, the national and local governments held commemorative events separately, but this year, all events nationwide were canceled due to COVID-19 quarantine measures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.