Reassessing the 1970s Rural Saemaul Movement as a Modern Design Movement

Background This study aims to analyze the background, content, development, and achievements of the Rural Saemaul Movement (New Village Movement) that took place in the late 1970s in South Korea from a design perspective. Methods The study examines the process of the influx and establishment of modernity and modernism in South Korea, focusing on architectural examples from the Japanese colonial era, the Manchukuo, and the US military government era. Subsequently, the study investigates the progress and achievements of the key policies of the Rural Saemaul movement, such as improving thatched roofs, upgrading substandard housing, enhancing living conditions, and dispelling superstitions, from a design perspective. Results Although the development process of the Rural Saemaul movement lacked rationality due to a top-down approach led by the government and the mobilization of residents, the outcomes resulted in a disruption of tradition and the incorporation of hygiene and science into the living environment, as well as standardization and mass production in housing styles, yielding results similar to Western modernist movements. Conclusions While it may be necessary to assess the colonial modernity and the deficiency of modernity in the 1970s Rural Saemaul movement, in terms of its results, the movement can be identified as the largest Modernist movement in South Korea.