The Iloilo provincial government, in partnership with the South Korean embassy and the local chapter of the Saemaul Undong movement, a rural community development initiative based in South Korea, will be holding a summit in Iloilo City next month, from August 30 to 31.

“This summit will provide us with a platform where we can understand and appreciate [Saemaul Undong] better,” said Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor.

The summit hopes to bring together mayors and community organizers and will feature speakers from Yeungnam University, which is based in Gyeongsan, South Korea.

The governor added, he would like to replicate the group’s “framework and success factors.”

“[Saemaul Undong] has been touted as the driving force behind the present success of South Korea,” affirmed Iloilo Planning and Development Coordinator Mario Nillos, who chairs the local chapter. “The United Nations has hailed it as the primary strategy that turned around the economy of the once-impoverished South Korea and propelled it into the ranks of superpower economies.”

Earlier this year, the organization invited five volunteers from Lemery, Iloilo to take part in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics Youth Experience and International Project Talks./WDJ