Kim Won-seop, KPGA President, "We Will Achieve Qualitative Improvement of the Tour"

Elected in November Last Year, 2024 New Year's Address
Commitment to Strengthening Communication, Establishing Ethics Committee, and Global Management
Advancing Systems, Pension Reform, and Discovering New Business Models

Kim Won-seop, the 19th president of the Korea Professional Golfers' Association (KPGA), unveiled the blueprint for the year of Gapjin 2024.

In his New Year's address on the 1st, he said, "This year marks the first year of the new administration's term," and announced, "We will actively work to advance members' rights and the development of the tour through new administration." He added, "We will make KPGA a source of pride for all members," and stated, "Having been entrusted with the important role of president, I will dedicate myself to the development of KPGA. KPGA will soar vigorously in the Year of the Blue Dragon."

Kim Won-seop, 19th President of KPGA

President Kim highlighted the new year's key themes as ▲ providing value and content through continuous communication with members ▲ strengthening transparency by establishing an Ethics Committee ▲ qualitative improvement of the tour ▲ expanding global management activities. He emphasized, "We will prioritize advancing the member education system, introducing a reasonable pension system, and improving member welfare to strengthen members' status," and added, "We will do our best to properly manage members' valuable assets and ensure the soundness of the funds." He also explained, "It is now necessary to establish strategies that can lead qualitative growth based on expertise," and said, "We will pursue tour stability by securing prize money competitiveness and signing multi-year contracts for each tournament."

He is also accelerating global management activities. President Kim stated, "We will enhance KPGA's sports diplomacy capabilities through the activation of international affairs and expansion of mutual exchanges," and expressed confidence, "We will also firmly lay the foundation for KPGA to grow into a global tour and organization." President Kim was elected KPGA president in November last year, receiving 108 votes (59%) out of 183 delegates. His term is four years, until 2027.

President Kim has a distinguished career related to sports. He served as the wrestling media officer for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, a Major League Baseball commentator for iTV in 1999, director of IMG Korea in 2000, special advisor to the president of the Korean Basketball League for four years starting in 2008, tournament director and senior advisor for the 2015 Presidents Cup, advisor to the PGA Tour, advisor to Pungsan Group led by Ryu Jin, president of the Korea Economic Association (HanKyungHyup), and executive director of the First Tee Korea Foundation, among other roles.