The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Innovation Support Division to break down unfair practices in the sports world

Nov 19, 2024

Congratulating Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Yoo In-chon

Minister of Inchon Affairs, Handball H League Opening Ceremony

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) announced its achievements in the fields of culture, arts, sports, and tourism and plans for future policies on the 19th to mark the two-and-a-half years since the inauguration of the Yoon Suk Yeol government.

Cheong Wa Dae, which has accumulated 6.58 million visitors, has been reborn as a representative tourist attraction, K-content has achieved the highest sales ever, and domestic demand has been boosted by travel to all corners of Korea. In the sports sector, policy improvement tasks, rather than performance, were more noticeable due to a series of controversies surrounding the Korea Sports Association, the Korea Badminton Association, and the Korea Football Association. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism cited 'Building a foundation for a new leap to correct old practices in the sports world' as an achievement of the sports world's sports community, and proposed 'Bold Practice Innovation Project' as a future task in the sports field. In both performance and policy implementation plans, the term 'old practice' was presented as a keyword.

As a result of the sports field, the performance exceeded expectations of the Paris Olympics and the Gangwon Youth Winter Olympics was mentioned as a successful hosting. 'Despite the fact that the number of participants in the Paris Olympics was not large, it recorded its highest record (8th overall) since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the 2024 Gangwon Winter Youth Olympics was successfully held with 2,700 participants from 78 countries.'"Incentive for sports activities by life cycle as well as providing direct benefits to the people who exercise so that these achievements can lead to national sports activities are promoted, and the introduction of an income deduction for sports facilities by adding fees for the use of swimming pools and fitness center facilities to the income deduction for cultural expenses was promoted (enforced on July 1, 2025)." In addition, a strict audit and investigation was conducted by the Korea Football Association and the Badminton Association on issues such as deep-rooted old practices in the sports world, unfair treatment of athletes, and opaque administrative procedures. Through this, we are continuously making efforts to improve related systems such as national training and to ensure fairness in sports administration by checking the performance of subsidized projects."

Regarding future plans for sports, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said President Yoon Suk Yeol will boldly innovate old practices to create a free and fair training environmentAfter quoting the phrase ", the Ministry of Culture plans to establish a new sports innovation support department' to break down unfair practices in the sports community revealed by audits and investigations by the Korea Sports Association, the Korea Football Association, and the Korea Badminton Association." Related to the Korea Sports Council's Sports Fair Committee, which has recently been controversial due to the approval of Lee Ki-heung, chairman of the Korea Sports Council for three consecutive terms "Legal and institutional improvement will be carried out in the direction of increasing the disciplinary jurisdiction of the executives of sports organizations to a separate organization." also stated the plan. It also announced a policy to directly issue part of the sports budget to the city and provincial sports bureau from next year without going through the Korean Sports Council. "We will convert part of the sports budget (41.6 billion won) provided to the region through the Korea Sports Association into local cooperation projects to promote regional customized programs, and strengthen the execution and performance management of the overall projects of the National Sports Promotion Fund."By doing so, we will establish public-private cooperation in sports that is in line with the status of Korean sports in the world, and strengthen the policy foundation for the re-leap of sports."

sky4us@sportschosun.com