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| Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun, from left, second vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Kim Jong and World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won pose after the Booyoung Group and the federation signed a global partnership agreement at the Lotte Hotel in central Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of the World Taekwondo Federation |
By Nam Hyun-woo
The World Taekwondo Federation and the Booyoung Group signed a global partnership agreement, Wednesday, providing a financial boost for the sport's governing body to expand its various initiatives.
Under the agreement, the group will provide a record $10 million (10.9 bil. won) to the federation over the next six years until the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
"I am deeply privileged to support the World Taekwondo Federation, which is the only international sports federation headquartered in Korea," said Booyoung Group Chairman Lee Joong-keun.
"While being involved in programs supporting taekwondo in the Asia-Pacific region, Booyoung has learned that people have a huge interest and passion for the sport. The group will do its utmost to contribute to popularize taekwondo and further our efforts to commit to social responsibility."
The ceremony was attended by World Taekwondo Federation President Choue Chung-won, former Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and Kim Jong, the second vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
"Together with the global taekwondo family, the World Taekwondo Federation is pleased with this global partnership agreement," said Choue. "With Booyoung's global partnership, taekwondo's standing as an Olympic sport will be further consolidated."
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"I am certain that the signing of the deal between the World Taekwondo Federation and Booyoung Group is a historical event," said vice minister Kim. "The government will actively support and cooperate with the federation for the sport to promote global peace."
Under Lee's leadership, Booyoung Group has been actively involved in various supporting programs for taekwondo, especially in Southeast Asian countries.
Starting with a 100 million-won donation for the advance of taekwondo in Vietnam in 2006, the group endowed 100 million won to taekwondo federations in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos the following year. The group has granted a total of $600,000 for the construction of taekwondo training centers in Laos and Cambodia and also paid some $400,000 for the construction of a separate training center in Myanmar that the federation is planning to build.
Following the group's support, Cambodian taekwondo athletes clinched the country's first ever Asiad gold at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games.
This latest sponsorship of $10-million is the largest global partnership deal that the federation has ever inked.
The federation first signed a four-year partnership deal with Samsung Electronics in 2005 and was sponsored by Macquarie Group Korea for five years since 2008. Following a three-year partnership deal with a foreign company in 2012, however, it has failed to find a global partner since 2014.
After taekwondo was voted to be included in the official program of the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games for the first time on Jan. 31, the federation has been seeking measures to expand its para-taekwondo facilities, and wants to launch a Sport Peace Corps, part of the federation's Taekwondo Peace Corps program, for all Olympic sports.
Also, the federation is seeking to start an international taekwondo foundation this year in a bid to increase the sport's popularity.
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