Winter Olympics in A New Community

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in South Korea's Pyeongchang County, which is located in the mountainous region to the northeast of the country. When the 1988 Summer Olympics took place in South Korea, the country was hailed globally as the Miracle on the Han River for its flourishing development. Today, an ordinary county in South Korea is preparing to host the next Winter Olympics and completing many modern facilities to accommodate the world's biggest winter sports tournament. This is a true miracle.

About 50 years ago, the New Community Movement (Saemaul Undong in Korean) started in Pyeongchang County. The Global Saemail Leadership Forum was held in the county last week. The forum was attended by South Korea's President Park Geun-hye. In her remarks, President Park talked about how the sense of togetherness (encouraging the you can do it" and we are the one" spirit) from the New Community Movement yielded great accomplishments and transformed the way people living in rural areas think. She noted how the labor productivity and income in rural areas improved significantly as people worked together and made the best out of the timely support of construction materials from the government by building roads and bridges with collective effort.

Within 30 years, South Korea transformed itself from a poor country that asked others for financial support to one of the ten most highly developed countries in the world. Today, they are offering help to other nations rather than asking for help themselves.

BENCHMARK MODEL FOR RURAL DEVELOPMENT

The United Nations Development Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development have acknowledged the New Community Movement as the benchmark model for rural development. The movement has been initiated in a total of 396 villages in 52 different countries today and has been reducing poverty, leveraging the practical knowledge of community members.

South Korea is creating a new way of providing substantial support in aiding the development of communities and improving livelihoods by changing the way they provide assistance internationally. In cooperation with central and local governments, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) is providing material support to communities, organizing on-site training for Koreans, and helping them implement projects in order to promote the New Community Movement and encourage the you can do it" and we are the one" spirit.

President Park Chung-hee...