President Lee: "Saemaul Undong Was Clearly a Success of the Park Chung Hee Administration... It Is Still Useful Today"

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\r\n[Financial News] President Lee Jae-myung visited the Saemaul Undong Center on the 14th and said, "It is clear that Saemaul Undong was a movement launched by President Park Chung Hee during the industrialization era to improve Korea's cultural, economic and social conditions, and it achieved significant results."
In his opening remarks at a field meeting on Saemaul Undong held that afternoon at the Saemaul Undong Central Training Institute in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, Lee said, "It is still very useful in this era."
Lee stressed the need to share Saemaul Undong with the international community. "As I travel around the world, I often think that it would be good if developing countries had something like Saemaul Undong," he said. "Agricultural support, in particular, seems truly important."
"We provide a lot of foreign aid, but it must actually help the recipient country," he explained. "When I thought about how to achieve the greatest efficiency, I concluded that sharing Saemaul Undong would be very helpful."
"As a global responsible power, we must also shoulder a certain level of responsibility in the international community," Lee said. "It is also important to help people around the world live happily in a slightly better environment."
He also gave a positive assessment of Saemaul Undong's role at home. "Among volunteer groups in Korea, Saemaul may be the one that carries out the most volunteer work, and does so with the most humble attitude," he said. "When I was mayor of Seongnam, I received a great deal of help from Saemaul members and leaders."
He did, however, draw a line at political bias. Lee said that when he was mayor of Seongnam, he once told executives of government-affiliated groups, including the Saemaul association, "How about doing your own organization's role well? Don't side with me, and don't side with anyone else."
"I hope they are not swayed by politics," he said. "If they keep getting pulled around for political reasons, they will not be respected." He added, "Politicians may seem to like it when people follow them around, but in fact they ignore them. If you carry out your role with confidence and earn good evaluations from the public, then politicians will come looking for you."
Lee also recalled adjusting the issue of flying the Saemaul flag at public offices during his time as governor of Gyeonggi Province. "Saemaul Undong is a very important organization and plays a major role, but I did not think it was a privileged group," he said. "I had doubts about whether it was still desirable to display the Taegeukgi and the Saemaul flag together in the same place."
"This was the first time I visited Saemaul as a private organization, and I was told on the way here today that it was unprecedented in history," Lee added. "Saemaul Undong played a truly major role in Korea's modernization, and even now it remains unmatched in its dedication to social service."
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west@fnnews.com Sung Seok-woo Reporter