Gwangju City News

From the Gwangju Metropolitan City website (http://gwangju.go.kr)

Gwangju City has finally been selected as the host city for the 2025 World Archery Championships.

In an online briefing, Gwangju’s Mayor Lee Yong Sup stated, “As a result of the voting of the World Archery Federation Steering Committee held in Lausanne, Switzerland, Gwangju’s bid was confirmed with overwhelming support, beating out Madrid (population 3.22 million), a worldclass sports and tourism city.”

Gwangju City participated in a video conference before the steering committee vote and once again explained in detail the strengths of the city, including infrastructure such as transportation and stadiums, as well as the 1.5 million citizens’ desire to host the competition.

The World Archery Federation Steering Committee highly praised Gwangju as a city that has successfully hosted the 2015 Summer Universiade Games and the Gwangju 2019 World Aquatics Championships, and as a city that has facilities such as the Gwangju International Archery Center maintained at international standards and that has produced six Olympic gold medalists.

To convey the will and desire of the city’s 1.5 million citizens to the steering committee, Gwangju City diligently prepared materials for the bid in a strategic and systematic manner. Aiming to make a perfect presentation to the World Archery Federation’s team that visited Gwangju in November, the city meticulously showed preparations for a successful event by using cutting-edge IT technology in 3D via a drone filming of the stadium.

Gwangju City has established a close-cooperation system with the city council and the Korea Archery Association since it officially announced the bid for hosting the 2025 World Archery Championships back in March 2021. Moreover, in August the Competition Bidding Committee was officially launched by Mayor Lee Yong Sup and Chung Eui-sun, chairman of the Korea Archery Association, who co-chaired the committee, composed of 97 members including officials from political, administrative, sports, and related institutions, which became the cornerstone of the successful bid for the competition.

During the World Archery Federation’s on-site inspection in November, Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong Sup led the entire inspection process and directly introduced the stadium to the inspection team, in addition to planning and participating in the welcome and farewell events.

The biannual World Archery Championship is the most prestigious international archery event, with a history of more than 90 years, and is the largest such event in which all national representatives of the world’s recurve and compound bows participate.

The 52nd Gwangju competition in 2025 will be the third time for Korea to host the World Archery Championships, after the 33rd event in Seoul in 1985 and the 45th event in Ulsan in 2009.

The 2025 World Archery Championships will be held for eight days, September 5–12, at the Gwangju International Archery Center and the Asia Culture Center with 1,100 athletes and executives from 90 countries participating.

In addition, the World Archery Federation Steering Committee has confirmed Gwangju as the venue for the 2022 Hyundai Archery World Cup (with 45 countries participating) and the 2025 World Archery Federation General Assembly, which were originally scheduled to be held in Shanghai, China.

As Gwangju will host the 2025 World Archery Championships, following the 2015 Summer Universiade Games and the Gwangju 2019 World Aquatics Championships, it has once again confirmed its status as an international sports city, which will help with the revitalization of the local economy.

Gwangju Mayor Lee Yong Sup stated, “I sincerely thank the citizens for their desire to host the 2015 World Archery Championships and their affection for archery. We will establish a closecooperation system with the World Archery Federation, the central government, and the Korea Archery Association.”

A promotional video produced by Gwangju City that features BTS member J-Hope, who was born in Gwangju, has received an explosive response from fans around the world, with a record 2.85 million views in just a week on social media channels. The video, entitled “Finding Hope: To Gwangju in Search of Hope,” was uploaded to Gwangju City’s official YouTube channel, “Light Tube,” on October 26. Instead of simply introducing the city of Gwangju, this promotional video is in the form of a travel vlog that features five themes of Gwangju: courtesy, intention, beauty, nature, and travel, based on the “hope” of J-Hope, making it much more interesting. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2nW JaJa96Y Gwangju Dong-gu (East District) Office News

The Dong-gu Office discussed with related experts and residents the preservation of a house in the district that was slated to be demolished to build a parking lot. It was decided to convert it into the Dong-gu Humanities Center, a center for area residents’ humanities-related activities.

The design of the remodeled Dong-gu Humanities Center includes Korean, Japanese, and Western styles. The structure is a remnant of past eras in which the house’s former owner renovated sections of the house in different periods of Korea’s dynamic history. The newly remodeled main building is to be used as an archive and exhibition space, for humanities lectures, and for humanities-related club activities, while a tearoom is for the convenience of users where various craft programs related to tea are to take place.

The Humanities Center is stocked with books in collaboration with independent bookstores in Dong-gu. Moreover, humanities programs from various fields are to be showcased along with exhibitions. In addition, a shared kitchen has optimal conditions for cooking. There are various cooking products and cooking tables, and programs related to food are being planned.

The Dong-gu Humanities Center is a space where area residents can strengthen their identity by sharing the space. It was made with the aim to become a tangible and intangible asset of Dong-gu by cherishing the traces of past lifestyles and keeping them intact. Opening is scheduled for January of this year.

Location: 168-5 Donggyecheon-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju. Inquiries: Dong-gu Humanities Urban Policy Division (062) 608-2175