Page "Demographics of South Korea" Paragraph 29

In 1970, the Park Chung Hee government launched the Saemaul undong ( New Community Movement ) as a rural reconstruction and self-help movement to improve economic conditions in the villages, close the wide gap in income between rural and urban areas, and stem urban migration — as well as to build a political base.

Despite a huge amount of government sponsored publicity, especially during the Park era, it was not clear by the late 1980s that the Saemaul undong had achieved its objectives.

By that time many, if not most, farming and fishing villages consisted of older persons ; relatively few able-bodied men and women remained to work in the fields or to fish.

This trend was apparent in government statistics for the 1986-87 period: the proportion of people fifty years old or older living in farming communities grew from 28. 7 % in 1986 to 30. 6 % in 1987, while the number of people in their twenties living in farming communities declined from 11. 3 % to 10. 8 %.

The nationwide percentages for people fifty years old or older and in their twenties were, in 1986, 14. 9 % and 20. 2 %, respectively ( see Agriculture, ch.

3 ).