"saemaul¡± means ¡°New Village or New Community.¡± Do you know about a movement called ¡°Saemaul Undong (movement)¡± in Korea before? Here is the story.

The Saemaul Undong began in 1970. It was started by South Korean president Park Chung-hee.

At that time, Korean cities were developing fast. Many modern buildings, roads were built with the growing Korean economy.

But many villages in the countryside were still underdeveloped. Especially, many people in small villages lived poorly. The movement started to solve this problem.
The movement was to make the underdeveloped areas better. The movement stressed self-help and cooperation among people. It encouraged people that they can live a better life.

The Saemaul Undong did much to improve rural communities. Such facilities like water systems, bridges and roads were newly built.

Nowadays, there are countries that try to learn the movement for their development.