The ‘Green Revolution’ in South Korea has been commonly understood as the development and dissemination of new rice varieties (Tongil-rice) and the rapid increase of rice yield in the 1970s. However, revolutionary success in agriculture was not th...
The ‘Green Revolution’ in South Korea has been commonly understood as the development and dissemination of new rice varieties (Tongil-rice) and the rapid increase of rice yield in the 1970s. However, revolutionary success in agriculture was not the only green revolution South Korea experienced; another green revolution lay in the success of reforestation. In the 1970s, South Korea’s reforestation was closely related to its agricultural revolution in several ways. Therefore, South Korea’s Green Revolution was an intrinsically linked double feature of agriculture and forestry. This two-pronged revolution was initiated by scientific research—yet accomplished by strong administrative mobilization under an authoritarian regime. The process of setting goals and meeting them through military-like strategy in a short time was made possible under the authoritarian regime, “Yu-shin” and the administration failed to fully acknowledge scientific expertise in the process of pushing to achieve goals.