Youths from both Koreas to attend YLP in Gwangju

GWANGJU – The participation of youths from both the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea at the Youth Leadership Programme (YLP), which will be held in Gwangju, Korea from August 22nd for 10 days, has been officially confirmed.

On August 19th, 2015 Gwangju Summer Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC 2015) informed that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has confirmed and sent a list of 4 participants for the YLP to the United Nations Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP). The organizing committee has received the list of the 3 youths and their leader from UNOSDP, and has applied for approval to the Ministry of Unification.

The participation of the youths from both countries at the YLP being held in Gwangju, Korea can be viewed meaningful in many aspects. First, this will mark the resumption of inter-Korean sports exchanges after its discontinuation in 2008. It will also be the first official meeting between Korean youths from both countries. Furthermore, this is seen as the go-ahead for the joint project that GUOC is organizing with UNOSDP, the formation of a United Korean Team to compete at the 28^th Summer Universiade in 2015.

That is one of the reasons why the participation of these youngsters at the YLP received much attention from worldwide sports officials and the media. Therefore, Wilfried Lemke, the UN Special Advisor on Sport for development and peace, visited the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea last month and formally requested the youths to take part in the YLP, for which he received a positive response.

During the YLP being held in Gwangju, the participating youths will be taking part in lectures about leadership skills, theoretical and practical training on sports, education, peace, and disabilities, along with many sports activities. They are also going to be experiencing Korean culture through activities such as trying on Hanbok (traditional Korean dress), making Korean food, and other traditional Korean activities.

On the second day of the programme, the participants will attend the EPICS Forum and hear from the world renowned leaders of each EPICS field (Environment, Peace, IT innovation, Culture, Sport Development).

The speakers of the EPICS Forum include Wilfried Lemke, UN Special Advisor on Sport for development and peace; Tegla Loroupe, UN ambassador of sport; Stefan Bergh, FISU Vice-President; Laima Janusonyte, AIPS Vice-President and Jang Mi-ran, 2008 Beijing Olympic Gold Medalist.

(Source: GUOC 2015)