Vice Minister Daehyun Kim Holds Meeting with Taekwondo Organization Leaders: "Active Support for UNESCO Inscription"

On the afternoon of November 4, Daehyun Kim, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, met with the heads of four major Taekwondo organizations and expressed his commitment to actively support the promotion of Taekwondo's inscription on UNESCO's list.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on this day that Vice Minister Daehyun Kim held a meeting with Chungwon Cho, President of the World Taekwondo Federation, Woongseok Yoon, Director of Kukkiwon, Jungheon Kim, Chairman of the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, and Jinbang Yang, President of the Korea Taekwondo Association, to discuss key issues facing the Taekwondo community and to reaffirm their commitment to cooperation.

Jungheon Kim, Chairman of the Taekwondo Promotion Foundation, Daehyun Kim, 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Chungwon Cho, President of the World Taekwondo Federation, Woongseok Yoon, Director of Kukkiwon, and Jinbang Yang, President of the Korea Taekwondo Association (from left), are taking a commemorative photo after discussing the promotion of Taekwondo's UNESCO inscription on the 4th at the Seoul Square conference room in Jung-gu, Seoul.
Photo by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The meeting was organized to discuss ways for public-private collaboration, including the promotion of Taekwondo's inscription as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, to ensure the sustainable development of Taekwondo in line with its global stature.

Vice Minister Kim stated, "Taekwondo is a representative cultural heritage that Korea can proudly present to the world, and it is a core asset for sports diplomacy. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will actively support not only the UNESCO inscription initiative but also the promotion of Taekwondo's cultural value and the strengthening of international cooperation."

The organization heads responded, "Since the UNESCO inscription of Taekwondo is a long-held aspiration within the Taekwondo community, we will pool our expertise and capabilities to further spread the values of peace, respect, and harmony that Taekwondo embodies throughout the international community."

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated that, taking this meeting as an opportunity, it plans to strengthen the public-private cooperation system centered on major Taekwondo organizations and to further expand Taekwondo's cultural value and international presence.