This study investigated and analyzed the trends of Saemaul Undong research on 296 Saemaul Undong-related master’s and doctoral dissertations from 1973 to February 2021 in the collection of the National Assembly Library.
The following conclusions were obtained as a result of analyzing degree year, research purpose, university, graduate school type, degree classification, and thesis topic, focusing on control variables, independent variables, and dependent variables.
First, with the globalization of Saemaul Undong, synergistic government-society Saemaul Undong, and the ‘Internet Saemaul Undong’, the development of the prototype of Saemaul Undong in the 1970s and its transformation should continue.
Second, Saemaul Undong is not separated from the one-sided view of economic growth or political dictatorship, it was a space in which the governing mechanism of the Park Jeong-Hee system was operated, and as shown in the current mass phenomenon, it should be understood as a space of mutual communication connecting the Park Chung-hee system and the public.
Third, ‘Financial support plan for the application of Saemaul Undong for new rural development in North Korea’, ‘Community development that strengthens social capital’ or ‘Saemaul Undong for a synergistic government-society’, ‘Social Capital Centered of Saemaul Undong’ should be activated.
Fourth, in order for the village revitalization movement, which has been interested since 2010, to succeed, the ‘theory and practice’ of the ‘original form and transformation’ of the Saemaul Undong should be strengthened and the ‘Saemaul Undong-type village renewal theory development and practice movement’ should be promoted.
Fifth, the positive effect of Saemaul Undong as a causal variable on the outcome variable, as well as the mediating and regulatory effects thereof, have been actively investigated and studied, so that the ‘Korean ODA model’ and ‘Korean Saemaul Undong application method’ can be easily applied to Saemaul Undong Globalization should be supported.
Lastly, for a successful Saemaul Undong, in underdeveloped countries or local communities, the development and implementation of functional and software-oriented resident participation-oriented process policies must be a prerequisite or parallel to structural and hardware policies. In advanced countries like Korea, where the number is close to 50%, more attention is needed to develop and implement the second and third Saemaul Undong by putting efforts into ‘faith education’ and ‘cultural movement’ in terms of public happiness and public theology.