President Lee Myung-bak attended the 2011 national Saemaeul movement leaders’ meeting in Ulsan on Thursday where he awarded and encouraged people who contributed to the movement.

Lee said the Saemaeul movement, which he credits with the miracle on the Han River, was a powerful movement that benefitted the public. He said that the nation needs to enhance its ability to operate autonomously with the private sector leading and participating in the movement in order to advance into a developed, first-rate nation.

In addition, the president called for the Saemaeul movement leaders to take the lead in green growth and ecosystemic development to fulfill their responsibility to the international community.

At Thursday’s event, some five-thousand people participated, including chiefs of local governments and city councils, Saemaeul movement leaders from around South Korea and 18 other nations, and foreign diplomats stationed in the nation.