Abstract
This article presents an analysis of the relationship between rural development and the innovation of agricultural technology, which focuses on Korea and Thailand and uses S. Tobata's theory. The fundamental factor of rural development is the innovation of agricultural technology. In Asian countries, the response to the "Green Revolution, " which is the typical pattern of innovation of agricultural technology, is different for each country. The most successful Asian country in adopting the "Green Revolution" is Korea, while the least successful is Thailand. The main reason for the successful adoption in Korea is that government has acted as the technological innovator and as the "entrepreneur who bears no risk, " and the Korean farmer has been able to change easily to become the "mere manager" due to governmental initiative. However, in other developing countries in Asia, government cannot act as the "entrepreneur, " for reasons including the difficulties of expanding the international market for new products, and poor capital formation. The experience of rural development in Korea is very attractive to developing countries. However, it is very difficult to transfer this experience to other developing countries without reforming governmental and farmers' functions in those countries.
