The Korea Local Administration Review

This paper traces the contextual government policies which might have contributed the success of Saemaul Undong in 1970s. In the early days of national development, industrialization was realized through the diverse instruments of government policies, and the following social and economic changes were closely related with public policies taken beforehand. In addition to the macro contextual and social and economic environment variables, the characteristics of the movement that attempted to incorporate such social and economic changes and government efforts played prominent parts in shaping overall courses of progress.
This paper found out urbanization with industrialization, and enthusiasm for educating children had been leading the way of rural changes. Land ownership reform, way back in 1950s, and the policies and programs contained in the 1st and 2nd 5 year economic development plans have contributed, as contextual requisites, for the acceleration of the rural development movement. At the same time, the internal movement mechanism that gave rise to rural reform was representatively redescribed by the four dimensions: consciousness, communication, capacity, and compatibility. These four concepts capture the essence of managing Saemaul Undong and the congruence between the context and the motivity of the movement eventually left the legacy of Saemaul Undong.

□ Keywords: Policy Context, Movement Dynamics on Policy Context, Success Context of Seamaul Undong, Case Study