By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
Jang Hyang-sook, president of the Korean Paralympic Committee, was elected as one of the 10 Members-at-Large, the governing board of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), at the general assembly held Sunday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Jang, also president of the Korea Sports Association for the Disabled (KOSAD), will hold the post for a four-year term until 2013.
"It will give Korea a good opportunity to strengthen its diplomatic influence in the international sports field for the disabled," Jang said.
At the assembly, Jang obtained 75 of 130, or 57.7 percent, of the valid votes.
Jang said she owes her election win to support from developing nations in Asia and Africa. "I feel a big responsibility for those nations which supported me. I will do my best to help upgrade their status and give them a greater voice in the international sports field,"she said.
The members are responsible for the implementation of policies set by the IPC general assembly. They also provide recommendations for membership, approve budgets, audit accounts and decide other key issues.
Hosted by the Malaysian Paralympic Council, the Assembly, which started on Nov. 19, re-elected Britain's Philip Craven as president of the IPC. It also saw the re-inclusion of athletes with an intellectual disability in competitions, including the upcoming 2012 London Paralympics.
Founded on Sept. 22, 1989, the IPC is an international non-profit organization formed and run by more than 160 National Paralympic Committees from five regions and four disability specific international sports federations. Its headquarters is in Bonn, Germany.