Five Cities and Provinces Scheduled to Host National Sports Festival Agree to Postpone Next Year... First Time in 100-Year History

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk Province, "Preparing the event to bring a new wave of national unity and economic revitalization next year"

A commemorative photo taken after Park Yang-woo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongbuk (center right), and Song Cheol-ho, Mayor of Ulsan (left), agreed to postpone the event.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Park Dong-wook] On the 3rd, at a meeting of the heads of 5 cities and provinces scheduled to host the National Sports Festival, chaired by Park Yang-woo, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, it was agreed to postpone the event by one year in consideration of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

The final decision on the event will be officially announced in early July after the Korea Sports Council board resolution and consultations with quarantine authorities. Attendees at the meeting included Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do, the scheduled host this year, Song Cheol-ho, Mayor of Ulsan, Song Sang-rak, Vice Governor of Jeollanam-do, Ha Byung-pil, Vice Governor of Gyeongsangnam-do, Kim Seon-jo, Director of Planning and Coordination of Busan City, and Kim Seung-ho, Secretary General of the Korea Sports Council.

The National Sports Festival has been held annually since 1920, starting with the '1st All Joseon Baseball Tournament' during the Japanese colonial period, except during the Sino-Japanese War and the first year of the Korean War. This postponement is the first in the 100-year history of the festival.

Gyeongsangbuk-do explained that this historic agreement was largely due to Governor Lee Cheol-woo’s prompt judgment and proactive response on site. On the 10th of last month, he proposed the postponement to the Prime Minister, and on the 25th, he visited Ulsan, the next host city, to request cooperation from Mayor Song Cheol-ho, moving swiftly to build consensus among related organizations and the public.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Sports Council facilitated the agreement among the 5 cities and provinces through a working-level meeting of the host cities on the 12th of last month and by gathering opinions from education and sports sectors on the 17th.

Lee Cheol-woo, Governor of Gyeongsangbuk-do, emphasized, "The unprecedented postponement in history was made possible thanks to the generous consideration and magnanimous decision of the next host city and the prompt decision by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. We will prepare to hold next year’s festival as an event that brings about national unity, healing, crisis overcoming, and a new wave of economic revitalization in the post-COVID era."

Meanwhile, the '101st National Sports Festival' was scheduled to be held this October at 71 venues across 12 cities and counties in Gyeongsangbuk-do, including Gumi, with about 30,000 participants from 17 cities and provinces and 18 overseas Korean athlete delegations, with a budget of 150 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.