뉴스 데이터 LDA 토픽모델링을 통한 새마을운동의 사회적 의미 탐색: 박근혜 정부 이후를 중심으로

Revisiting the Social Meanings of the Saemaul Undong: News Data Analysis with LDA Topic Modeling Since the Park Geun-hye Administration

(Purpose) This study aims to explore and discover the socially embedded meaning of the Saemaul Undong by examining how it has been reconstructed with social and policy implications in Korean society since the Park Geun-hye administration. (Design/methodology/approach) To this end, Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic model was applied to news data to identify key topics, and an LDAvis-based principal component analysis was conducted to explore the internalization of Saemaul Undong in both domestic and international contexts. (Findings) The findings reveal that the Saemaul Undong since the Park Geun-hye administration, particularly through the the 2th Saemaul Undong is not merely a repetition of past rural development movements but has been recontextualized within a multi-layered structure. This includes the branding of Korea through international development cooperation as Saemaul ODA, community and social contribution activities led by Saemaul organizations, and an ODA-driven community development model institutionalized at the international level, exemplified by the UNDP’s Inclusive Saemaul Initiative. (Research implications or Originality) These results suggest that the Saemaul Undong continues to function as an important policy asset in Korean society and has evolved into a universal community development model applicable to developing countries. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need to reframe the Saemaul Undong not as a mere historical legacy but as an ongoing social and policy discourse. The policy implications point to the necessity of modernizing and applying the lessons of the Saemaul Undong in areas such as regional balanced development, responses to youth outmigration, financial inclusion strategies, and the design of international development cooperation (ODA) policies. Accordingly, future research should focus on concretizing a “modernized Saemaul Undong” model that reflects new social contexts.