This movement paved the way for a better life in villages by improving living conditions, increasing incomes, and cultivating a spirit of diligence, self-help, and cooperation. Korea’s Saemaul Movement of the 1970s was a nationwide integrated community development program through a partnership between the village and the government. It targeted three areas: Attitudinal change, an increase in incomes, and an improvement of living conditions. Through the Saemaul Movement, the average income of a farming household increased 8.7 times from 1970 to 1979. From 1970 to 1979, a total of 85,000 km of new roads were built in rural Korea (2.6 km per village).

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