Lee Hee-beom, chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, gave a lecture on Korean economic development in Ethiopia, the federation said.

Invited by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Lee spoke to a meeting of Ethiopian ambassadors and consuls general stationed around the world in Addis Ababa on Tuesday.

He explained the Saemaeul Movement and other steps that transformed Korea from a war-ravaged underdeveloped country into an economic power.

The movement, also known as the New Community Movement, was a political initiative launched in 1970 by then-South Korean President Park Chung-hee to modernize the Korean economy.

Noting that Ethiopia was the only African country to have fought for South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War and that the two countries mark the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year, he said the federation would help guide Ethiopia’s economic development based on the Korean model.

South Korea has provided assistance to Ethiopia in the fields of public health, farming technology, vocational training and infrastructure construction since it established a partnership strategy for Ethiopia in 2005.

In Ethiopia, LG Group has pushed the “LG Hope Village Project” to turn underdeveloped villages into self-sufficient farming communities, build job training schools, and offer scholarships to descendants of Korean War veterans.

Lee will tour the sites where Korean companies have pushed development projects styled after the Saemaul Movement on Thursday. Among them are the LG Hope villages and candidate sites for job training centers. He will also visit the homes of recipients of the LG scholarship.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)