The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee has officially launched a new working group to prepare for the Olympic Esports Games, a global esports event being promoted by the International Olympic Committee.
The move with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee is the first major development to emerge ever since the IOC and its partners in Saudi Arabia ended their collaboration on the Olympic Esports Games. Following that decision, many stakeholders around the world have been waiting to see how countries and sports bodies would move forward with esports at the Olympic level.
The working group includes the Korea Sports Council, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, sports federations, academic experts, and industry officials. Its structure may change later depending on decisions made by the IOC, such as which esports titles will officially be part of the Games.
Korea is considered to be in a strong position when it comes to esports. The country already has a solid global reputation in competitive gaming, close working relationships with major game publishers, a steady system for developing professional players, and plenty of experience in hosting and running large esports events.
However, the Korean Sports Council has explicitly mentioned that esports is more complicated than traditional sports. Issues such as game ownership rights, privately run leagues, government policy, military service rules, and the legal status of esports players all make it difficult for sports bodies to handle esports on their own. To deal with these challenges, the Korea Sports Council formed this working group to study whether Korea could host future Olympic Esports Games.
For now, Korea’s main goal is to support the International Olympic Committee on policy and governance issues. This means helping design the Olympic Esports Games in a way that respects game ownership rights, keeps game publishers and existing leagues involved, and allows countries like Korea to properly select and send official national teams. The group will also work on building rules and systems to train, select, and send Korean esports athletes to international competitions.
According to the release, the working group is led by Korea Sports Council Chairman Yoo Seung-min and includes members from the government, sports organisations, universities, and the esports and gaming industries. The group has officially started operations to help Korea respond in an organised way to the upcoming esports Olympics.
Yoo Seung-min, the 42nd President of the Korea Sports Council, said in an official statement (translated from Korean), “Through the operation of this working group, we plan to strengthen the connection between traditional sports and esports and seek ways for the Korean esports and gaming industries to develop in harmony with the international sports stage. We expect to be able to establish a new international sports cooperation model that expands contact with the younger generation.”
The group plans to meet regularly and will focus on three main areas. These are understanding IOC policies related to esports, reviewing how a national esports team could be selected and managed, and creating cooperation models between the government, sports groups, and the private sector.
Follow The Esports Radar on social media:
