The new community movement: Park Chung Hee and the making of state populism in Korea

The long-lasting authoritarian government of Park Chung Hee (1961-1979) was characterized by a strong state and equally strong resistance from the people. And yet this resistance-which ultimately contributed to the regime's collapse-emerged only in the latter half of Park's rule, in the period after the mid-1970s when his control increased. More recently, Park's rule is also remembered quite favourably by many Koreans, especially with regard to his achievements in modernization and economic development. Using the New Community Movement (Saemaul Undong) as a critical case, this paper analyzes what lies behind this ambivalent popular attitude toward Park, and concludes that Park's rule was a curious amalgam of a strong capitalist drive and rather "anti-capitalist" populist ideals that re-worked the egalitarian ethos of the Korean village tradition. This ethos succeeded in mobilizing a widespread popular zeal for a better life, while Confucianism was upheld only as a ruling ideology to guard the authoritarian rule. However, the dynamism and techniques of popular mobilization generated and used throughout the NCM ironically also produced fierce opposition to the Park government, and eventually contributed to the toppling of Park's regime.