The town was the birthplace of the South Korean president Park Chung-hee. His birth home is a museum today. It was during his administration that the South Korean government selected Gumi as a site for major industrial development. Gumi developed rapidly during the 1960s, growing from a small rural town into a large city thanks to huge infusions of development money from the government. It was selected for development for some practical reasons such as its easy access to transportation infrastructure, and its location in the industrialized Yeongnam region.
