The core principles of Korea’s Saemaul Undong, a model of the agricultural and rural development for developing countries, may be summarized as adoption of organizational approach considering spiritual enlightenment, pursuit of visible change through practical innovations, villager’s voluntary participation and self-help, and introduction of competition-based incentive system. The contents of the Saemaul Undong project include agricultural production technology transfer and agricultural infrastructure building as well as spiritual enlightenment and living infrastructure improvement. Based on the situational characteristics of Myanmar, some measures to apply Saemaul Undong approach can be proposed as follows. The scope of Saemaul Undong needs to encompass agricultural technology transfer as well as infrastructure building for improving agricultural production and living environment. Saemaul Undong is not a panacea for rural development, but it can be a guide for developing agriculture and rural areas by helping lessen trial and errors. Mind-set change by Saemaul Undong training and group decision making with village leaders and villagers need to be actively applied to Myanmar. Emphases need to be put on agricultural productivity and income increase as well as living environment improvement considering unique situations of Myanmar. In addition, income increase measures for landless farmers by livestock raising are required. Empowerment, manpower mobilization and material support need to be flexibly applied to rural villages based on their labor market situation. In developing village leaders, partnership with NGOs needs to be emphasized in suburban areas. Systematic evaluation tools need to be developed for identifying determinants of the success of Saemaul Undong.

• 임상봉(한국농어촌공사 농어촌연구원) | Sang Bong Im (Rural Research Institute, KRC) Corresponding author