Since ancient times, the Korean people has developed sports culture based on martial arts. For example, the Rite of Heaven incorporated some physical activities, combinations of dancing and singing, and the Koreans of old enjoyed physical activities related to martial arts including archery, horse riding, Taekkyon, ssireum (Korean wrestling), subak, and Chajeon Nori. In addition, Koreans have developed physical strength and teamwork through various folk games.

In the late 19th century, modern sports were introduced when the Joseon dynasty opened up to the outside world. This served as an opportunity for the Korean Empire to establish laws and systems related to modern sports and sought to strengthen the people’s minds and bodies by encouraging physical education, for example, making physical education a component of school curriculum.

Physical education was used as a tool for regaining national sovereignty under Japanese colonial rule. At that time, limited PE activities were allowed to Koreans due to the colonial situations. However, the March 1st Movement aroused people’s aspiration for national independence, thereby further invigorating PE activities. As a result, the Joseon Sports Council, the predecessor of the Korea Sports Council, was founded on July 13, 1920. It hosted and sponsored games composed of different events including the 1st All Joseon Baseball Tournament. After that, as various sporting events were disseminated across the country, along with the emergence of professional athletes, public interest in sports began to increase.

Korean sports have played an active part in the international arena over the past century, displaying the fighting spirit, so-called the hungry spirit, even in poor conditions. South Korea won two bronze medals at the London 1948 Olympic Games, and Yang Jung-mo received a gold medal in the featherweight division of wrestling at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. After that, South Korea ranked with sporting powerhouses in the 1980s. Since the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, it has shown great performances at the international multisport event with four consecutive top-10 finishes.

As successfully hosting the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics, South Korea was recognized as a host of international competitions. Since then, it hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan and the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, showing its capacity as a truly advanced sporting nation.

The performance enhancement of South Korean athletes in conjunction with various international sporting events held in South Korea has increased the people’s interest in sports while contributing to the improvement of sports-for-all environments.

The reason why South Korea has been able to become a global sporting powerhouse is attributed to the people physically participating in a range of sporting activities along with systematic investment. It discovers talented young players and trains them scientifically, and allows them to participate in diverse games to gain practical experience. In addition, athletes who will participate in the Olympics or the World Athletics Championships are intensively trained at the separate athletic training center.

South Korea boasts highly methodical systems dedicated to sports research. Specialists in various fields from sports dynamics to psychology and physiology help athletes achieve their best possible results in competitions. The Korea Institute of Sport Science (KISS) is leading the scientific training of national athletes. KISS, formerly the Sports Science Research Center, has incorporated science and technology into training programs for various sports since its foundation. The institute separately established the Research Department of Sports Science composed of about 30 experts with the master’s and doctorate degrees for the purpose of assisting the athletes in winning medals before participating in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In 1966, the Korea National Training Center, also known as the Taereung Training Center, was established in Seoul to foster national athletes. It was dedicated to the promotion of Sports Science in South Korea, consisting of training facilities including a track and field stadium for different disciplines. It was the country’s cradle of national athletes for 51 years but demolished in 2017 when the Jincheon National Training Center was completed in Jincheon, Chungcheongbuk-do,

The Jincheon National Training Center, five times larger than the Taereung Training Center, consists of training facilities designed to accommodate 35 disciplines and train 1,150 athletes. It thus provides everything needed for national athletes to focus on nothing but their training programs. Located on Hambaeksan Mountain in Taebaek, Gangwon-do, the Taebaek National Training Center is also for the training of national athletes and candidates in highlands, aiming at their cardiopulmonary improvement.

After liberation from Japanese colonization, Korean sports have made extraordinary achievements. Particularly, since the 1976 Summer Olympics (Games of the XXI Olympiad) and the 1984 Summer Olympics (Games of the XXIII Olympiad), South Korea has ranked in the top ten, remaining as a sporting powerhouse. It has hosted the world’s top five mega sports, the Summer Olympics, the Winter Olympics, The FIFA World Cup, the World Athletics Championships, and the FINA World Championships, as well as the Asian Games and the Universiade.

1988 Seoul Summer Olympics (Games of the XXIV Olympiad)

The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were held in Seoul in 1988, marking a record number of athletes ever: 13,304 athletes from 160 countries. With the slogan: “Harmony and Progress,” the organizing committee set up the following objectives: participation of the largest number of athletes, worldwide harmony, best results, safety, and cost saving. South Korea became the 16th country (and only the 2nd in Asia) to host the Summer Olympic Games. The competitions were held in 23 formal disciplines and 2 demonstration sports. South Korea ranked 4th overall, winning 12 gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 11 bronze medals

The 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics were very significant in that they served as a venue for reconciliation between the Western and Eastern Blocs, after the Western Bloc’s boycotting of the 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics (Games of the XXII Olympiad) and the Eastern Bloc’s retaliatory boycotting of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics (Games of the XXIII Olympiad). The event in Seoul transcended ideological conflict and racial discrimination pursuant to the Olympic Charter, and served as an occasion for publicizing the status of the country’s economic development and traditional culture, and the potential of Koreans worldwide.

2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan (17th FIFA World Cup)

Held for 31 days (May 31 to June 30), the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan (17th FIFA World Cup) was the first World Cup to be jointly hosted by two countries. It was also the first World Cup Tournament to be held outside Europe and the Americas. The event produced a series of unexpected results. In particular, South Korea astonished the whole world by achieving remarkable success, namely, by reaching the semi-finals. Also, the enthusiastic cheering of soccer fans in red T shirts, called the Red Devils, also served as an opportunity to promote another aspect of South Korea to people around the world. This led to massive crowds to gather for street cheering nationwide. Tens of thousands of fans fervently cheering on their team in the dead of night created quite a sight. During the South Korean team’s match against Germany for 4th place, a total of 6.5 million people filled the streets nationwide to cheer on their national team.

2011 World Championships in Athletics

The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics was held in Daegu, the country’s third largest city, from August 27 to September 4, 2011. Located in Daegu, an international city that modern technology merges into history, Daegu Stadium, also known as the Blue Arc, is a sports stadium where big international sports events were successfully held, such as the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan (17th FIFA World Cup in 2002) and the 2003 Summer Universiade. It has presented vivid impressions of track and field events to the fans around the world through highdefinition electronic scoreboards combined with cutting-edge ICT technology.

South Korea has professional leagues in sports: soccer, baseball, basketball, volleyball, e-sports and Go (baduk). Korean professional sports began to develop in 1982 when six professional baseball teams were born. Subsequently, the Korean football league started in 1983, followed by the professional basketball in 1997 and the professional volleyball in 2005. At present, professional sports are actively developed, centered on four professional sports leagues: football, baseball, basketball, and volleyball.

The four professional sports also demonstrated high performances in international competitions. The South Korea national football team advanced to the semifinals at the 2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan, advanced to the round of 16 at the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa, and won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in 2012. The South Korean national baseball team won the gold medal in the final victory at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing Olympics in 2008, came in second in the 2009 World Baseball Classic (WBC), and won the title in the WBSC Premier12 in 2015. Based on these achievements, the people’s interest in South Korean professional sports has been steadily increasing.

The government's 100 Policy Tasks presented in 2017 include Task 72: To build a vibrant country where everyone can enjoy sports. The task is intended to highlight the importance of sports for all as a means of promoting life and welfare and building a healthy country, and to create an environment in which all citizens are exposed to sports for all by expanding public sports clubs and personalizing sports programs for each life cycle.

Accordingly, local governments expanded their personalized sports facilities as well as communities and amenities for the entire nation by integrating sports for all with elite sports from 2012 to 2015. They also developed sports-for-all programs tailored to the life cycles of the local residents by investing profits earned through sports and entertainment events in sports for all again. These efforts have increased local residents’ engagement in sport-for-all programs by a factor of three. As a result, South Korea has successfully established a virtuous cycle of sports and welfare.

In the 21st century, e-sports are rapidly spreading as attractive cultural content. E-sports has been gradually recognized as official sports since 2018 when it was adopted as a demonstration sport for the 18th Asian Games, also known as Jakarta–Palembang 2018. South Korea is the most advanced IT country in Asia due to the fastest digitalization since the IT industry was promoted in 1998. Now, its e-sports industry has also developed rapidly. Founded In 2001, the Korea e-Sports Association (KeSPA) has systematized the athlete management, rules, and competition methods, leading the popularization of e-sports. Currently, South Korea has the largest number of world-class e-sports players and is recognized as home to e-sports. The portion of South Korea in the global e-sports industry is just 13.1%. However, it has world-class players, so the potential of e-sports in South Korea is highly regarded around the world.