Research Reports
The Current Status of Changes in Korean Rural Villages and Direction for Mid- and Long-term Development
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AuthorSeong, Jooin
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Publication Date2016.01.26
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Original
Background of Research
Recently, rural villages in Korea have been differentiated by region according to various factors including the aging of population, urban-to-rural migration, and government projects, and this trend has been more diversified. This study aims to empirically analyze the changes in farming and fishing communities currently postmodernized, forecast their future changes, and accordingly present the policy direction. This research continues for five years, and the first-year study aims to design the whole research and identify the overall situation of changes in rural villages and their factors.
Method of Research
This study consists of the literature review, statistical data analysis, and research and analysis of case areas. First, we comprehensively examine the changes in rural villages' functions and in developed nations' farming communities through the literature review. Second, we investigate the changes in rural villages' macroscopic conditions and the recent division among regions in rural areas, based on national data on rural communities. Last, we conduct research on case areas through surveys on heads of villages and on residents' awareness, and analyze overall changes including changes in population, households, community activities, and economic activities.
Research Results and Implications
This study drew several implications from the comparison of settlement conditions by each type of rural villages. First, even remote regions with low accessibility to metropolitan cities have a possibility of seeking new vitality, different from the past. Second, the stronger an area's agricultural base is, the slower its changes such as the inflow of the outside population are. Third, a significant number of myeon (township) regions with myeon offices do not show actual differences in population changes or community vitalization from villages around them. Last, people who returned to farming and rural areas are very different in their participation in community activities or their values, especially according to the time of settlement. Also, their existence is a key variable in the vitalization of a village.
Among the factors in changes in and vitalization of rural villages, the results of the case research on the six items, including 1) the influx of the urban population, 2) the income base, 3) village accessibility, 4) village leaders' capacity, 5) capabilities for community activities, and 6) government-supported projects, are as follows. Although the location factor such as accessibility to large cities still has a big influence, microscopic factors in rural villages are also important. Amenity factors like the income base and the environment, and social factors, including village leaders' and residents' community capacity and village traditions, work complexly, dividing villages even in the same area into various groups. In addition, the effective utilization of external resources such as government-supported projects and networks in/outside a region also affect the vitalization of the village. Further, rural communities are expected to be more diversified in the future with great effects of a variable of the influx of people who return to farming and rural areas.
Researchers: Seong Jooin, Park Daeshik, Jeong Eunmee,
and Min Kyungchan
Research period: 2015. 1. ~ 2015. 12.
E-mail address: jiseong@krei.re.kr
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