1. The Foreign Ministry will host “the 2017 World Taekwondo Championship of the Ambassador’s Cup” at Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Headquarters), Seoul, on December 6.

2. The upcoming Taekwondo competition in Seoul, the final round among winners of Taekwondo matches held by the Republic of Korea’s overseas diplomatic missions, will mark the first of its kind. It is expected to serve as an opportunity to seek a further spread of the martial art and beef up its global network.

3. The Ambassador’s Cup Taekwondo championships, after being held by overseas missions on their own, became part of “a sports public diplomacy and cooperation project” in 2014 and have since taken place on a regular basis, paving the way for the spread of Taekwondo overseas and helping strengthen sports diplomacy.

4. In 2017, 95 overseas missions carried out the aforementioned project, with 54 winners from 25 countries invited to the ROK for the final round.

※ The 25 countries are Nicaragua, Romania, Rwanda, Mozambique, Mongolia, the US, Brazil, Serbia, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Spain, Algeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Indonesia, Cambodia, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Fiji.

5. Going forward, the Foreign Ministry will enhance cultural diplomacy in a way that will allow foreign Taekwondo practitioners from all walks of life across the world to directly participate in it and thereby to develop an interest in Korean culture and spirit.


* unofficial translation