Minister PARK Bo Gyoon: “Nurturing Ssireum as a competitive K-sport for export, debuting on the global sports industry stage”

Collaborative efforts include a ssireum experience linked with seasonal traditional cultural events and marketing targeting foreign visitors

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST) announced on May 17 (Wed) that the National Folk Museum of Korea and the Korea Ssireum Association have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to promote Ssireum[1]. Minister PARK, National Folk Museum Director KIM Jong Dae, and Korea Ssireum Association President HWANG Kyung Soo attended the signing ceremony.

Ssireum, a representative folk culture and traditional game symbolizing our nation, is a sport where individuals compete based on their strength and abilities. At the same time, it has served as a medium for communication, harmony, and solidarity within local communities, continuing to be an integral part of Koreans’ lives. Through the collaboration between the National Folk Museum of Korea and the Korea Ssireum Association, sharing the characteristic of folk heritage, it is expected that the fun and charm of ssireum will further spread and resonate with a wider audience.

“I am confident that ssireum is the sport that can best showcase the ‘freedom and solidarity’ philosophy of the YOON Suk Yeol administration brilliantly and substantially. Based on this philosophy, we will nurture ssireum as a new blue chip in the sports industry and a competitive export item for K-sports,” Minister PARK said. “We will debut K-wrestling on the global sports stage through well-crafted policies.”

According to this MOU, the National Folk Museum and the Korea Ssireum Association plan to cooperate in expanding the promotion of ssireum. The main objectives include (1) organizing ssireum experiences linked with seasonal traditional cultural events and holiday events and holding ssireum competitions, and (2) conducting ssireum marketing targeting foreign visitors to the National Folk Museum.