On November 26, the Korea Rural Economic Institute (president: Choi Seikyun) received a citation of the Minister of the Interior for contributing to improving the nation's status and developing the Saemaul Movement through the Global Village Saemaul Movement.

KREI has greatly contributed to globalizing the Saemaul Movement by sharing the case of the movement as an agricultural and rural development model for developing countries through research on international cooperation programs related to the Korean ODA model in the agriculture sector and the KAPEX (Korean Agricultural Policy Experiences for Food Security) program.