President calls for renewal of `New Village` movement for green growth

By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- President Lee Myung-bak on Friday called for the
launch of a new movement modeled after an economic development campaign carried
out decades earlier, this time focusing on low-carbon, green growth.
Lee was visiting Gumi, 260km southeast of Seoul, where an exhibition was opening
to celebrate the "Saemaul" or "New Village" movement that drove the country's
rapid economic development after the Korean War.
Launched by then President Park Chung-hee in late 1960s, when the country's per
capita income was less than US$100, the campaign boosted gross domestic product
by an annual average of over 20 percent in the 1970s and pulled up per capita
income to $5,000 in just two decades.
President Lee said the Saemaul movement was an important part of the country's
history and helped it develop the reputation and level of prosperity it enjoys
today.
Some 47,000 people from 74 developing countries throughout the world have visited
South Korea to learn more about the movement and apply it in their own countries.
But Lee said the campaign will no longer be useful here unless it can be renewed
to address pressing challenges.
"A movement for a country moving toward a per capita income of $30,000 cannot be
the same as the one for the country whose per capita income was at $1,000," the
president said, according to excerpts of his speech released by the presidential
office Cheong Wa Dae.
"Diligence, self-reliance and cooperation that formed the backbone of the Saemaul
Movement continue to be our important values today. The same principles must now
form the bases of our movement toward an advanced nation," he said.
The president said the most important task will be to enable further growth while
also fighting climate change.
"I ask you to lead the movement toward a green way of life that will help cut
carbon emissions and save energy," Lee told the audience.
bdk@yna.co.kr
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