5 Seoul veterans center members named to Korea's Invictus Games team
Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, center, talks with young wounded veterans at the Garden of Gratitude in Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, Sept. 30. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
Five young veterans connected to Seoul’s counseling center for young wounded veterans, the first such center run by a local government in Korea, have been named to Korea’s 11-member team for the 2027 Invictus Games, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday.
The Invictus Games is an international multisport event for service members and veterans who were wounded, injured or became ill during military service. Britain’s Prince Harry founded it in 2014 to promote the rehabilitation of injured service members and their return to civilian life. The Korea Disabled Veterans Organization announced the team after reviewing applications in September.
The five selected are two members of the center’s peer support group, a former head of operations at the center and two current staff members. All were injured while serving in the military and have since rebuilt their lives through rehabilitation and sports.
One of the athletes, a former Army aircraft maintenance noncommissioned officer, was partially paralyzed in both legs after a four-story fall in 2008. She later took up para rowing and won gold at the National Para Games in 2024. Another member was paralyzed from the waist down when a military bus overturned in 2018 and competed in rowing at the 2023 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China.
The former operations head lost his left foot to a landmine explosion in 2019 while serving as a Marine Corps officer near the mouth of the Han River in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. He won silver in indoor rowing at the 2023 Invictus Games in Germany. One current staff member nearly lost his ankle in a 2022 landmine blast, and the other suffered shrapnel wounds during North Korea’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island in 2010.
The 2027 Games will be held in Birmingham, England, from July 10 to 17. About 3,000 people are expected to take part, including some 550 athletes from 26 countries. The Games will feature 13 sports, including pickleball, laser run, esports and 3-on-3 basketball, which are being added to this edition.
The center opened in March 2022 and is run by the Seoul Welfare Foundation. It offers legal counseling and help with registering for state veterans benefits, as well as psychological counseling, peer support meetings, and links to job and housing support. Through October, it had handled 3,056 consultations and 1,072 individual psychological counseling sessions.
“The selection of young veterans injured during military service to represent the country is a meaningful achievement that demonstrates their resilience, recovery and determination to take on new challenges,” said Bae So-young, director of the Center for Social Welfare and Public Interest Law. “We will continue to provide comprehensive support, from legal and psychological counseling to assistance with independent living, to ensure that young veterans injured during service have their rights protected and can make a healthy transition back into civilian life.”
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.