Saemaul Undong revisited:
A case of state-society dynamics
in social capital mobilisation,
focusing on the role of local leaders in
South Korea of 1970s
Yunjeong Yang, PhD.
Assistant Professor, GSIAS
Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Korea
yunyang@hufs.ac.kr
Paper prepared for the DSA Annual Conference
Birmingham, 16 November 2013
Contents
• Saemaul Undong and introduction
• Engagement of rural communities (Facts)
• Agents of change in successful social capital mobilisation
(analytic framework & method)
• How did they make it? (data interpretations)
• Implications
Saemaul Undong as top-down?
• a campaign initiated by the late president Park Chung Hee in
1970, with the slogan of diligence, self-help and cooperation
• launched with 335 packs of cement being distributed, free of
charge, to each of about 35,000 rural villages
• One condition attached to the free distribution was that it
should be used for the welfare of the entire community, not
to the benefit of any particular individuals
• often defined as a ‘planned, government-led, and top-down
movement for social change’
Transformation of villages by category (1972-1979)
Source: drawn from Soh (2007: 104), Table 4.
Saemaul Undong as bottom-up?
• Average number of yearly participants by village: over 3,000
ppl, i.e. almost everyone in rural areas
• Contributing in unpaid labour (average 13 days per year per
household, excluding countless hours of meetings
participated)
• Community contributions outweighing govt support for the
movement throughout the 1970s, except 1974-5 (financial
burdens shouldered more by village, rather than by the state,
which spent an average 2.5% of its total revenue)
Saemaul Leaders as
Agent of social capital for development
Note: SC: Social Capital;
Agent of social capital (Saemaul Leaders)
① ‘Bonding’; ② ‘Bridging’; ③ ‘Linking’
What did they do?
(Qualities & Roles of SMU Leaders)
Rural development was my dream and faith (an agrarian leader-turned
Saemaul Leader, Song, 1973: 82; also Rim, 1972: 74).
I shall help those people, who left our village because of hardship,
return to enjoy a better life here (an honoured Saemaul Leader, Park,
1973: 111).
I shall become a torch for rural modernisation (a county official, Son,
1972: 129).
•Recognition of problems and strong will to solve it
•Problem-solving and decision-making capacities
•Spirit of sacrifice and service
•Physical, financial, labour and social capital
•Communications and human relations
•Evaluation, transparency and trust-building
Saemaul Leaders as
Agent of social capital: ‘Bonding’
I worked harder than anyone else and never neglected persuading
fellow villagers… Every evening after the day’s work, I discussed the
next day’s plan along with Yijang and the head of the VDC. I also visited
every single person in the village to explain the successful examples of
other villages, comparing our own and their projects, trying to
persuade our fellow folks that we could also do it. About two weeks
later, people began to see the changes and once there was a belief that
‘we can live better if we work hard’ everyone did their best without
complaints (Kim, G. 1972: 177).
Lack of hands. I called a village meeting and stressed that the
construction of the bridge was not for other people [but for us]. I asked
women and mothers of the village to take the lead and to actively
participate (Lee, G. 1972: 104).
Saemaul Leaders as
Agent of social capital: ‘Linking’
The village chief, [at the age of 62], armed with energy and courage, was
commuting by bicycle, or sometimes walking, every day for almost 5km to
reach the county office and to ask for help and support from the chief of
township (Park, J. 1972: 106).
I was frequenting the training centre and the county office [in order to learn
agricultural techniques so as to then be able to teach them to villagers], as
they were my own houses … After a while, every single person in the village
became an engineer and could have a side job (Kim, M. 1972: 133).
Some villages, after having worked hard with the sincere Leader for a while,
showed noticeable changes in one year as if mountain and river have changed
[for which we often say that it takes 10 years]. When such a trustworthy
Leader asks a favour, we [public officials] reply ‘we will do our best to help
you.’ In contrast, for a Leader who has only been talking [but not working], we
tell them ‘if you have time to come over here [to ask a favour from
government agencies], please go back to the field and work harder’ (a former
sub-county officer in Mok, 1972: 118).
Implications

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active assistance and support from the government (both material
and non-material, is, with no doubt, necessary.
what matters more, however, is participation on the part of
would-be beneficiaries, in this case ordinary people in rural areas
 possible engagement of social capital from local contexts,
turning local leaders into a strong agent of development
Saemaul Leaders were not created by the government but rather,
found and supported actively by the government.
When there is trust, social capital is more likely to increase easily,
but it can also be constructed later.