The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism PARK Bo Gyoon met with the President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Andrew PARSONS at the National Museum of Korea on August 18 (Thur) and discussed on Para sports including social inclusion vision through Sports and showed strong commitment to continue cooperation with IPC on Para Sports.

PARK said “President YOON Suk Yeol has a philosophy that fair and non-discriminatory access to culture and sports must be guaranteed to everyone. Based on the President YOON’s thought, MCST has been pushing forward sports policies for the disabled in a sophisticated and aggressive manner under the belief that if the environment for culture, sports and art for the disabled improves, the environment of the non-disabled will also improve. This has also been my philosophy since I first took office as the Minister. In addition, this sports policy for the disabled is in line with the vision of ‘WeThe15’, a movement to improve awareness of the disabled, which is being promoted by President Parsons, and is a social integration that breaks the barriers between the disabled and the non-disabled and harmonizes all of us together, thereby pursuing social inclusion.” MCST Minister showed strong commitment and continuous cooperation with the movement of the IPC.

In response to Minister’s remark, President Parsons added “The Para sports policy and the establishment of ‘Bandabi Sports Center’ are the unprecedentedly successful legacies of the 2018 Pyeongchang Paralympics.” He also expressed his support for the disabled sports policy promoted by the Korean government and his will to promote it globally. In addition, PARSONS expressed his gratitude to Korean government on contributing to the development of sports for the people with disabilities worldwide by actively carrying out official development assistance (ODA) projects, such as providing various sporting goods and training opportunities for developing countries and he hoped the related business to be further expanded.

In response to the President’s comment, PARK responded, "As part of realizing the value of a fair and non-discriminatory approach to sports activities, Korean government will actively seek Korea's role in sports ODA". The two leaders also exchanged opinions on the prospective opportunities for Koreans to work for the international organizations such as the International Paralympic Committee and agreed to cooperate further on this matter. The meeting was also joined by JEONG Jin-wan, President of the Korea Paralympic Committee (KPC) and JEONG Jae-jun, executive member of the IPC.