Goyang City goes all-out as host of World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships

Goyang Major Lee Jae-joon speaks during an interview with The Korea Times, Nov. 16. Courtesy of Goyang City Government

North Korea invited and likely to participate

By Yoon Ja-young

With the world still struggling against the COVID-19 pandemic, major sports events have been suspended too. But against such odds, the World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, scheduled to be held in Goyang City next April, will be the first major international sports event in the country since the outbreak of the pandemic, and the city is going all-out to host the event.

"We stressed 'safety' when we were competing to host the poomsae championships. Goyang City had been in the spotlight around the world, having been the first to introduce drive-through testing centers during the COVID-19 pandemic," Mayor Lee Jae-joon said during an interview with The Korea Times.

Located northwest of Seoul, the city led a number of innovations during the pandemic, which include tracking visitors in crowded facilities like cafes, restaurants or shopping malls by simply having them make a phone call, instead of writing down their phone number, which had the risk of personal information being shared without authorization. It also introduced hotels where those returning from overseas could safely stay for two weeks without the fear of possibly spreading the virus to their family members. Such innovations led by Goyang City were cited as examples of successful "K-quarantine" measures, which refers to Korea's effective response to the pandemic and its antivirus policies.

The Goyang 2022 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships, scheduled from April 18 to April 24, is expected to receive around 2,000 athletes and officials from some 70 countries. "Poomsae" refers to a set of defining motions and poses in taekwondo, and is one of the sport's three main pillars ― along with "gyeorugi," or attack and defense, and "gyeokpa," or breaking hard objects with the hands or feet. Poomsae has been included in the official sports of the Asian Games since 2018.

"The athletes will be competing in 36 different disciplines vying for 275 medals. As they will be displaying various taekwondo techniques, it will be of great excitement, even for those who have little knowledge of the martial arts," the mayor said.

The World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships started in 2006, and they have been held once every two years since 2016. For the 2018 championships held in Taipei, some 1,200 athletes from 59 countries participated. The 2020 championships, which had been scheduled to take place in Denmark, were canceled due to the pandemic, and they were instead held later on a virtual platform in order to comply with social distancing regulations. Fans of taekwondo's new format are thus excitedly waiting for next year's championships, which will be the first with a big crowd in four years. It will also be the first one to be held in Korea since the 2007 championships in Incheon.

The mayor said that hosting the event is part of Goyang's plan to become a global sports industry hub. It was natural for the city to pick taekwondo, a self-dense-cum-sport that has its roots in Korea, as its specialty.

"Being a city that specializes in taekwondo is included in our policy agenda. Hosting the poomsae championships also stems from the plan," Lee said.

As a part of efforts to nurture taekwondo as an industry, the city successfully hosted the Taekwondo Education and Industry Show in October, so that taekwondo-related businesses could develop new sales channels and networks.

World Taekwondo (WT), the international governing body of the sport, also plans to relocate its headquarters to the city in a few years.

Athletes perform during the 2018 World Taekwondo Poomsae Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. Courtesy of the Goyang City government

North Korea's demonstration team 'likely to come'

WT is also working to invite North Korea's taekwondo demonstration team to the upcoming event.

"The North Korean athletes probably won't participate in the competition, but the demonstration team is likely to come. It was confirmed that a ranking official from North Korea's International Taekwondo Federation delivered to WT its intention to dispatch a demonstration team. We expect North and South Korea to jointly stage a 'performance of peace' for the first time in the poomsae championships," Lee said.

He added that Goyang has been leading efforts at the local government level for communication with North Korea.

"Goyang is located around the middle of the Korean Peninsula, and it takes only a 40 minutes' drive to get to Panmunjeom, the gateway to North Korea. On top of this locational advantage, we have diverse infrastructure and facilities for communication with North," Lee said, referring to facilities like an exhibition hall for peaceful reunification with North.

Lee has also been interested in unifying the techniques and terms of both Koreas.

"For instance, South Korea and North Korea use different measurement units or terms in medicine or technology. We have been making efforts for the unification of these. I think unified taekwondo techniques are also essential. Currently, the two Koreas cannot form a unified single team due to the difference in techniques," he said.

In 2018, only one month after his inauguration, Lee had a chance to meet North Korean sports officials at the 2018 Jakarta-Talembang Asian Games, where North and South Korea participated as a unified single team for a number of sports. There, Lee conveyed the city's strong determination to contribute to the inter-Korean exchange of sports.

On top of inviting North Korea, taekwondo poomsae practitioners from developing countries that have never participated in the event will also be invited, in accordance with the city's two keywords of "peace" and "future," according to Lee.

Lee expects that the event will have a positive impact on the city, which plans to be a leading city not only in the sports industry but also in the MICE (short for "Meeting, Incentives, Convention and Exhibition") industry. A number of international meetings, including WT meetings, are scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the championships. In the case of the 2017 Muju World Taekwondo Championships, some 1,800 athletes from 183 countries participated, leading to an estimated economic effect of 167.9 billion won ($142.2 million).

"This is the first major international sports event held in Goyang in 13 years, since the 2009 World Weightlifting Championships. We will establish a comprehensive plan and execute it with precision to enhance the status of taekwondo and the brand value of Goyang," the mayor said.