"Training the Next Lee Mangi and Kang Hodong"... Changwon City Enacts and Promulgates Ssireum Promotion Ordinance

Mayor Heo Seong-mu: "The nation's first municipal Ssireum Promotion Ordinance expresses the will to revive Ssireum"

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Hwang Choi Hyun-joo] Changwon City in Gyeongnam announced on the 13th that it has enacted and promulgated an ordinance on the promotion of Ssireum, becoming the first local government in the country to do so.

Ssireum is considered one of Korea's representative traditional cultures, with its presence even found in Goguryeo murals. The Changwon area is regarded as the heyday of Ssireum, having produced numerous Cheonhajangsa champions such as Haksan Kim Seong-ryul, Lee Mangi, and Kang Hodong during the 1970s to 1990s. Currently, the tradition is maintained as elementary, middle, high school, and university-level athletes continue to train and pass down techniques and experience.

The "Changwon City Ordinance on the Promotion of Ssireum" aims to inherit and develop Ssireum, which holds ethnic cultural value, to protect and support voluntary Ssireum activities, and to contribute to the health promotion of citizens. It enables the establishment of plans for the dissemination and promotion of Ssireum, the formation of the Ssireum Promotion Council, and administrative and financial support for Ssireum Day events.

Heo Seong-mu, Mayor of Changwon, stated, "The Ssireum promotion ordinance expresses our determination to actively foster Ssireum as a representative cultural asset of Changwon and to start a second revival period of Ssireum here in Changwon." He added, "Using the Ssireum promotion ordinance as a stepping stone, we will accelerate the creation of Changwon as the holy land of Ssireum through the revival of Masan, the hometown of Ssireum."

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