Minister Park Bo-gyun: "Aggressively Promoting Policies for Disabled Sports"

Meeting with Andrew Parsons, IPC President, Promises Cooperation

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Park Bo-gyun, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, met with Andrew Parsons, President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), at the National Museum of Korea on the 18th to pledge ongoing cooperation. He also expressed his determination to break down invisible barriers through sports for the disabled and achieve social integration.

Minister Park stated, "The Yoon Seok-yeol administration's national philosophy guarantees fair and non-discriminatory access to culture and sports," adding, "We are pursuing disability sports policies meticulously and aggressively with the belief that improving cultural, sports, and artistic environments for people with disabilities also enhances the environment for non-disabled people." He expressed active support and willingness to participate, noting that this aligns with the vision of Parsons' disability awareness campaign 'WeThe15.'

President Parsons expressed gratitude, saying, "Korea has actively carried out Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects by supporting various sports equipment and providing training opportunities to developing countries, which has greatly contributed to the advancement of disability sports." He continued, "The disability lifestyle sports policies established based on the successful hosting of the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics and the construction of the 'Bandabi Sports Center' are unprecedented exemplary cases of Paralympic legacy," promising to widely promote related policies worldwide. The meeting was also attended by Chung Jin-wan, President of the Korea Paralympic Committee, and Jeong Jae-jun, IPC Executive Board member.