Minister HWANG Hee from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) led the Korean delegation to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as the head of delegation team to encourage Korean athletes and officials and continue sports diplomacy.

  Minister Hwang participated in the opening ceremony of the 2022 Olympic Games and met Chinese Minister of General Administration of Sport, Gou Zhongwen, on February 5. Hwang said the Olympics will be a venue to bring comfort and joy to people around the world who are suffering due to COVID. In response to his remarks, Minister Gou said that more and more people in Korea are enjoying the winter sports thanks to the PyeongChang Olympics. In addition, Minister Hwang emphasized that the Olympic Games in PyeongChang (2018), Tokyo (2020) and Beijing (2022) gave opportunities for peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia. In particular, during the meeting, the two countries reaffirmed the need for cooperation between Korea and China for a successful event, and that the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics to become a peace Olympic and bring winter sports opportunities for youths, especially in the underdeveloped countries. The two Ministers shared the view that they would cooperate and support to facilitate inter-Korean sports exchanges to take place in the upcoming Asian Games.

  After the meeting with Chinese counterpart, Minister Hwang met with the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), Witold Banka, to cooperate between the two organizations and a consensus was reached between the two leaders to prevent illegal drug use and to create fair and clean sports environment. Minister Hwang emphasized that WADA's anti-doping activities should be realized as 'fairness' and 'social value' in sports, and expressed WADA’s cooperation and support on successful staging of the '2025 World Conference on Doping in Sports' in Korea. Minister Hwang and president Banka also shared views on the need for anti-doping education for youth, which is the new educational outreach program promoted by WADA.

 On February 7, Minister Hwang met Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to discuss preparations and promote for the Gangwon 2024. Hwang suggested “Culture Olympics” as a new field, where Olympic spirit to be expanded to cultural realm to pursue peace and harmony among people around the world to promote cultural diversity. Furthermore, he emphasized that the three consecutive Olympics held in Korea, Japan, and China will be an opportunity for world peace and harmony and added that Gangwon 2024 will serve as a venue where youth, including young people from the developing world, can fully enjoy winter sports. In response to the Hwang’s statement, President Bach showed trust in successful hosting of the Gangwon 2024.

The Minister also met with Korean athletes and officials to encourage for the upcoming competitions. Hwang and the Korean delegation visited a number of venues to encourage athletes on the field of play. Meanwhile, Minister Hwang’s visit to Beijing will be until February 9 after completing seven days of assignments as the head of Korean delegation.