Changing Asian Rural Communities
- Concentrating on Korea -

Na, Kyung Soo(CHonnam National University, Korea)

1. Rural urban migration and its socio-historical effects

Korea like other countries in Asia also had maintained the pattern of the agricultural society for thousands of years. But Korean society was changed from agricultural society to industrial one after the end of 1960's. This phenomenon brought about a tremendous lot of social changes. One of the changes was the rurul exodus. Korea has experienced the rural exodus from 1970's.

Of course, there are persons to try U-turn or J-turn recently. But such a phenominon is are just the problems of the personal level, not the social level. The below table is refered to know the tendency of rural urban migration.

The Tendency of Korean Population and the farmers

(unit : thousand)

year	population of Korea	farming population	farming household	percentage of farming population
1946	19,369	14,416	-	74.4%
1950	20,189	12,864	-	63.7%
1960	24,954	14,559	2,350	58.3%
1965	28,705	15,812	2,507	55.1%
1970	32,241	14,422	2,483	44.7%
1975	35,281	13,244	2,379	37.5%
1980	38,124	10,827	2,155	28.4%
1985	40,806	8,521	1,926	20.9%
1990	42,869	6,661	1,767	15.5%
1993	44,056	5,407	1,597	12.3%

Korean total population has increased till now from 1940's as the above table is explaining, but the farming population and household reversely has decreased rapidly. This decreasing causes of farming population can be summarized: rural push power and urban pull power. This phenomenon has brought about the various changes in the socio-historical situation of a peasant, a agriculture, and a agricultural village. The changes can be arranged into several kinds of level as following.

(1) The political level

The traditional agricultural-first polocy in Korea became weakened since the end of 1960's when the real industrialization was driven forward powerfully. The proverb "agriculture is a great foundation of a nation" only is in memory of people or a collection of proverbs.

(2) The economic level

The economic estrangement of farmers and the rural urban migration has made a interactions of a vicious cycle in the impoverished conditions of rural communities each other. The rural urban migration brought the expansion of plowed land absolutely, but the economic improvement of farmers is very slight because of a internal low-price policy, the income differential between the urban labor and rural, and the price competitiveness with the imported farming productions from foreign nations recently.

(3) The social level

The structure of families and villages as the social constituent units has been changed by the rural urban migration. It has changed the traditional large-family system into the conspicuous trend toward nuclear families, the ruined farming houses have appeared in succession in the rural villages. These structural changes did not stay only in themselves, and they gave rise to lots of social problems. For example, the aged trend of rural population, the destruction of beautiful tradition and consciousness, and the taking to pieces of traditional and spontaneous organizations and so forth might be the traits of the rural communities.

(4) The cultural level

One of cultural characters is to be changed with the process of history. But we need to keep in mind the fact that change and degeneration are different, and still more destruction or disorganization is the completely different concept with change. Korean culture also has come with much of change on the process of the industrial community from agricultural one. But the destruction or disorganization of the traditional culture as well as the change was caused with intent, especialy, the sense of value to support the traditional cultue was plunged in confusion.

(5) The technical level

Korea farmers feel keenly the necessity of scientific technique about farming, storage, transport etc. Now, Korean farmers and government are concerned about the farm mechanization, the improvement of the chemical manure and the agricultural chemicals, the plant breeding. And it is not the problem to be solved just now, but I guess that Korean agriculture will substitute the farming enterprises for the family farming with the improvement of farming technique.

I has searched briefly the socio-historical effects that came with the rural urban migration to divide into five kinds of level as above, because I do not think the socio-historical effects are a simlpe concept. But the problems are not limited to the rural communities. The urban communities also have in their arms a number of problems: the problems of traffic, residence, pollution, crime etc.

2. Modernization and traditional heritage

(1) Confusion of Modernization and Westernization

Korean have identified mostly modernization with westernization. Therefore, the prejudice, "the western culture is modern, the eastern culture is premodern" became generalization, and on the extension line, the dualistic judgement of value, "superiority vs. inferiority, virtue vs. vice" overlapped on the prejudice.

For example, the plastic operation for a double eyelid become popular with the young persons in Korea. Of course, a double eyelid is an physical character of European, not of Mongolian. I think that the very phenomenon is one of typical examples to present how much Korean envied Europe and the United States, and how some degree they confused the modernization and westernization.

Now, we need to realize the fact that the most western cultures were built on the migratory economy and many of eastern cultures in Asian nations that had been agricultural society were based on the settlement economy. The prototype difference between the western culture and eastern must be understanded positively by Asian. Many of western scholars have indicated the crises of the western civilization and idea. We know they also have invoked to learn the eastern wisdom and culture in order to weather the present crisis. It is stupidity to confuse the modernization with the westernization. Now, many of post-modernists have a tendency to follow the eastern idea. The westernization is never the model of modernization in Asia. It is just a kind of imitation.

(2) Modernity of Traditional Cuture

The traditional culture is the present one, not the past. Tradition has mainly three kinds of property: variability, transmission, peculiarity. It is diachronic production, and synchronic property at the same time.

Korea has the history of five thousand years. According to this long history, the Korean traditional culture consists of the various stratam, namely, the deeper one and the surface, the native one and the imported, the higher one and the lower, and the mental one and the material. The Korean traditional heritages may be the monuments of these various culture stratam.

We have to recollect that a history is not just the past. The reason to memory a history is for the present and the future, not for the past. As the biological life is in need of food, the cultural life of human is in need of a history of a nutrition. In the same logic, as the amnesia in a private individual is his destruction of the personality, the traditional loss bring about disturbance of national identity. To preserve the traditional culture and heritage is equal to maintain the continuity of individual life.

Therefore, the tradition of a nation do not stay at the level of preservation, but it must be developed for the healthy national emotion, active cultural promotion, and manifestation of the wisdom transmitted from generation to generation. Namely, we have to concentrate on our attention about how we will use the tradition to elevat the quality of life in our age.

(3) Tradition and Creation

Many of Korean who had regarded modernization as westernization started to recognize only recently that the both are explicitly different. A couple of years ago, globalization became the social issue in Korea. But I think that globalization should be progressed toward two directions: the Koreanization of the globe and the globalization of Korea. It is mistake to look both globalization and decolonization upon the different concept. Decolonization or post-colonism is necessary to contribute to global culture as well as to stimulate the individualization of national culture. The national culture and global culture is no longer exclusive in the this age of post-modernism. Because the global culture consist of the harmonization of the individual cultures, and it do not mean the standardization of the individual cultures.

Keeping in our mind about the difference between imitation and creation, we have to approach to the problem, "the modern succession of the traditional heritage." The modern succession of the traditional heritages do not mean a mere transmission. The traditional heritages must be transmitted in the creative level.

There are two kind of the traditional heritages: mental and material. For exemple, a kimchi is being widely known to one of the Korean traditional foods. Even if Korean eat fast food or dinner of western custom, they generally eat it with kimchi. Originally, the traditional kimchi was only two or three kinds, but the kinds of kimchi have been developed more than a hundred of kinds in Korea. "Mutual Help" is one of the Korean mental tradition. Such a tradition has been weakened by the influence of individualism to come from western society, it is necessary to revive the tradition of the mutual help for the virtue of the social relationship. As Korean proverb goes, the more a sad is divided together, the smaller it will become, the more a happy is divided together, the bigger it will become. We have to fully realize a sense of duty and resposibility to find the potential traditions, to succeed them creatively.

I think that the traditional cuture can give to ensure the national identity. The national identity is representative of both subjecthood and homogeneity. After all, both modernization and tradition are complementary relationship, not exclusive one. In addition to it, Asian have to keep in their mind the saying "from a great tradition to a great future.

3. Aspiration and incentives for farmers

I guess that the word "estrangement" is suitable for the present situation of Korean farmers in several points. They have been estranged by policy, economy, society, and culture from without, and they also are living all alone in farming villages since their sons and daughters left to cities and factories from within.

This present, I think one of the most important issues that the human have to solve should be democratization. Democratization is not limited to the political realm. Economic, social, cultural democratization also will be carried out altogether. Democratization that these problems are excluded is meaningless. After all, the estrangement of farmers is the problem related to democratization to be solved by the human. We must be concerned about the political, social status, the economic guarantee, and the cultural benefit of peasants on the level of the human history

But the aspirations and the incentives that the farmers immediately concerned expect are very humble. As Lévi-Strauss said, agriculture was the most important revolution in the human history. But it's importance has been lost color after the industrial revolution, and the peasant's status also has been weakened by the influence of industrialization. Such a experience of farmers made even their expectation humble. In my humble opinion, the aspirations and the incentives for them will be focussed on the three kinds of points widely as below.

(1) Improvement of the Farming method

Farm, farmer, and farming are three elements interrelated in the rural society, and accordingly the improvement of the farming methor will influence to the farmer's life. The improvement of the farming method maybe is the most important key to solve the serious problems of rural society, namely "the low income and the heavy labour of farmers". If farmers can get the secure income and do their labour lightly, it is equal to clear off the most dark cloud in the problems of the rural society. To obtain such a effect, the spontaneous endeavor of the farmers is not only necessary within, but also the external guarantee must support it in actuality. The external guarantee for formers is as following.

1) The side of political support

farming education, farming fund, soil amendment, farmland arrangement, irrigation facilities, etc

2) The side of science and technique

breeding, mechanization of farming tools and equipment, betterment of farming institutions, chemical manures and weedisides, control of insect pests, etc

(2) Improvement of the Distribution Structure

Both farmers and consumers suffer a lot of damage because of the complicated distribution structure. The farm products are not easy to store for long time because of the weak endurance, and the farm prices also are unstable because the control of supply and demand is very difficult. In addition, the systems for shoring up farm prices suffer from the flooding of the imported farm products and the rules of WTO.

Because farmers are not organization. they themselves do not have the organized power to improve the distribution structure. the government and the society must play an important role in the improvement of the distribution structure for farmers.

(3) Improvement of the social security system for farmers

One of serious reasons for leading the rural urban migration in Korea is the lack of the social security system. The social security system must is made ultimately to enable all the people to receive equal benefits. But the farmers welfare is lower than the average. In real sense, the social security system must become the light to brighten the dark place.

Especially, the government must be concerned seriously about the rural social environments: the hygiene, education, medical service, traffic, etc, in level of the social security system for farmers.

And, the government must make the institutional systems to solve the income gap between rural society and urban one and to refund farmers "the victim of industrialization" the extra income.

(4) Improvement of The cultural environment

The cultural desire generally is proportioned to the quality of life. According as the informational interchanges and traffic development are moving lively through several kinds of media, the popular desire for culture is going up greatly today. But the opportunities that farmers can fill the their cultural desire are restricted, the cultural institutions are preponderant in cities extremely.

There are abnormally many of the tour companies for farmers in Korea. It may be one of the examples that the cultural desires of farmers are given out.

Government and the biggest private enterprises have to act as leader in the plans and application to expand the cultural institutions for farmers.

4. Other common issues in Asia

(1) Unbalance of Human Constituent

The normal society base on the balance of human constitution. But the rural society in Korea present the serious unbalance of human constitution. Especially, the unbalanced distinction of sex and age can bring about the several kinds of society problems. For exemple, the problems of farmer successor, marriage, and the old preson in the rural society rise from the unbalanced distinction of sex and age

(2) Psychological Conflict between Farmers and Townspeople

Without time to relax cultural shock that came with industrialization or modernization, Korean society had been changed rapidly. The rapid change also brought out the psychological conflict between farmers and towmspeople.

(3) Necessity of the Farming Company

The family farming will be gradually disadvantageous in payability, farming technique, competitive power. Now, we fill the necessity that agriculture become industrialization, farmers also become enterprisers.