INTERNATIONAL DIFFUSION PRACTICE: LESSONS FROM SOUTH KOREA'S NEW VILLAGE MOVEMENT by ARCHNES Jung Hwa Kim MA SSACHUSETS INSTIftUE OF TECHNOLOGY Bachelor of Arts in International Relations JUN 2 0 2013 Brown University Providence, Rhode Island (2008) LIBRARIES Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in City Planning at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2013 K)2013 Jung Hwa Kim. All Rights Reserved The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author............................... ...---------- Department of Urban Studies and Planning May 22, 2013 C ertified by..................................... .. s..----------.........-... U/QAalakrishnan Rajagopal Associate Professor of Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Thesis Supervisor A ccepted by .............................................................................- . -. , P. Chri Zegras Cb- , CP.o0mittee Associate Professor of Department of Urban Studies a lanning 2 INTERNATIONAL DIFFUSION PRACTICE: LESSONS FROM SOUTH KOREA'S NEW VILLAGE MOVEMENT BY Jung Hwa Kim Submitted to the Department of Urban Studies and Planning on May 22,2013 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master in City Planning ABSTRACT This research focuses on how South Korea's development model-namely, the Saemaul Undong, or the New Village Movement-is diffused internationally, in particular, to the developing country of Vietnam. South Korea's successful model has been diffused through various different channels for years, mostly in the form of foreign aid projects. Due to the prevailing view that international diffusion practices take place homogenously (in a near-universally standardized manner) within the recipient communities, and due to the propensity on the part of both donor and recipient governments to highlight only successful cases of diffusion while not publicizing those that have failed, several key questions, such as, how diffusion actually takes place, or how each project is likely to bring about different outcomes based on who initiates or leads the project, and to what extent this particular South Korean model has been viable and sustainable in the recipient country, remain largely unveiled. This research, therefore, aims to analyze the role of each stakeholder and how these stakeholders-either personnel or institutions-make an impact on the degree of diffusion of the Saemaul Undong process. It seeks to differentiate the impact of diffusion between short-term or one-time aid projects and those that have managed to become a sustainable development model in the recipient community. To be specific, the roles of politicians, administrative officials at the local level, non-governmental agents, external factors, and minor actors are investigated at the micro-level. Thesis Advisor: Balakrishnan Rajagopal Title: Associate Professor of Law and Development and Director of the Program on Human Rights and Justice at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Thesis Reader: Sung-Yoon Lee Title: Assistant Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many people to thank, as this thesis would not have been possible without their generous advice and support. My sincere gratitude to: Professor Balakrishnan Rajagopal at MIT and Professor Sung-Yoon Lee at Tufts University, for their continuous support and guidance throughout the year. Professor Eun Mee Kim at Ewha Womans University, for providing many important contacts who were critical in this research. Director Choe from Viet-Korea Cooperation Center, for accompanying me in Hanoi and helping with translation. Dr. Chung Ki Whan from Korea Rural Economic Institute, for providing me invaluable data. Director Ahn Chul-kyoon from National Council of Saemaul Undong, Director Chung Dae-suk from Gumi Saemaul Undong, and Director Lee Kyungwon from Gyeongsangbuk Saemaul Undong, for providing me statistical data and detailed information on the Saemaul Undong. Chairman Kang Moon-kyu of Global Civic Sharing, for his invaluable insights on South Korea's foreign assistance. Dr. Lan Vu Cong of National Institute of Agricultural Planning and Projection, for his time and interview. Mr. Huh Young-hyun, Mr. Oh Sang-moo, and Ms. Kim Hyun-jin, for accompanying me in Hanoi, Gumi, and Gyeongsangbuk-do. Mr. Lim Dong-hyun, for translating throughout my visit to Vietnam. Most importantly, I am forever indebted to my parents-Ho Youn Kim and Mee Kim- for their endless love, support, and understanding. No words can fully express my love and gratitude. You are my inspiration. I am also grateful to my brothers for their moral support-Dong Hwan Kim and Dong Man Kim. 4 Table of Contents Chapter 1. Diffusion of Development Model on the International Level........................6 Chapter 2. South Korea's International Development Assistance..................................12 C hapter 3. Thesis Q uestion........................................................................................... 13 C hapter 4. Literature Review ......................................................................................... 14 Section 1. Evolution of Foreign Aid: the Agricultural Sector.......................... 14 Section 2. Region-specific Literature: Vietnam................................................ 16 A. Political Economy and Rural Development......................................16 B. The Role of Foreign Aid in Vietnam................................................21 Chapter 5. Hypotheses and Methodology.................................................................... 23 Chapter 6. Saemaul Undong in South Korea: 1970-1979.............................................34 Chapter 7. Saemaul Undong at the International Level................................................43 Chapter 8. Saemaul Undong in Vietnam & Case Selection....................47 Chapter 9. Case 1: The Khoi Ky Project...................................................................... 52 Chapter 10. Case 2: The Lien Phuong Project............................................................. 62 Chapter 11. Case 3: The La Bang Project.................................................................... 73 Chapter 12. Summary of the Study................................................................................87 Chapter 13. A Roadmap for Future Saemaul Undong Diffusion Projects...........95 T ables and Figures......................................................................................... .. .. ....-99 B ibliography and Sources................................................................................................104 5 CHAPTER 1. DIFFUSION OF DEVELOPMENT MODEL ON THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL Official Development Assistance (ODA) flowing from early developed countries-namely the members of OECD-rose gradually in volume during the Cold War, in particular from the late-1960s to the early 1990s. However, recession in the early 1990s led to a drop in total ODA by 16 percent in real terms from 1993 to 1997, before picking up again in 1998 and peaking in the mid-2000s due to "exceptional debt relief' programs for Iraq and Nigeria. As much as the developed countries of the world have made tangible efforts in the post-Cold War era to eradicate poverty in less developed countries, the flow of ODA has been uneven and woefully low for many developing countries. Even paths to development paved with good intentions by international institutions such as the United Nations, which established the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) in 2000 with the view toward, among other goals, eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, have come under strong criticism for their unilateral approach and unquantifiable goals. For achieving any developmental goals, such as achieving universal primary education or promoting gender equality and maternal health, there is a crucial need to develop the rural sector. Since a large portion of the population in developing countries tend to be engaged in farming, the rural sector lags behind the urban population in infrastructure, education, and social welfare programs. According to Edward Reed, there is also a new urgency for addressing rural problems because these problems are "generated by population pressure on land, water and other resources, threats to the 1 OECD, "Fifty years of official development assistance," Retrieved on May 3, 2013, from http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/50yearsofofficialdevelopmentassistance.htm 6 environment, climate change, and widening income disparity between rural and urban sectors."2 Nevertheless, rural regions in most developing countries the world over are heavily marked by economic backwardness and underdevelopment, with few noticeable signs of change in many cases. The development of the rural sector remains the key in reaching the ambitious goals set by the MDG. Hence, any assessment of international efforts to reduce poverty in developing countries should focus on the problem of relative and substantial underdevelopment in the rural sector. According to Seung-hun Chun, there are several reasons for the persistence of poverty': 1) Many developing countries have undergone the history of colonization. This has left the population with a negative mindset and profound displacement in terms of self-rule and administration.