Visit to UNESCO headquarters for cooperative project in the field of Traditional

    Sport & Game (TSG) in on February 5~11, 2010

- Mr. Byung Yong SOH president of WoMAU and his party visited UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France on February 5~11 (7 days and 5 nights), 2010 to consult cooperative project in the field of Traditional Sport & Game(TSG) with Ms. Golda El-Khoury, the Chief of the Youth, Sport and Physical Education Section .

  Meeting Ms. Golda El-Khoury, the Chief of the Youth, Sport and Physical Education Section, he discussed ways and procedures that WoMAU can get approval from UNESCO for itself and the festival, which is to make sure for WoMAU to play a leading role or function in the world martial arts. The details of discussion is as follows.

   According to the section chief , in order for WoMAU to get UNESCO"s approval for usage of UNESCO symbol like logo or emblem etc in martial arts festival, WoMAU should apply 2 months before the event takes place. She also indicated they could be used in the long term in case the event was continuously held for 3 to 5 years and be approved by UNESCO on condition of UNESCO"s activities (PES.TSG and so on) included in the course of Leadership program by World Martial Arts Academy.

  With regard to World Martial Arts Academy sending martial arts leaders abroad, WoMAU president responsed that it would be difficult for WoMAU to support financially but would be able to provide materials relating to the business of sending KOICA Taekwondo masters. 

  She said  that UNESCO allows to place WoMAU banner(link) on UNESCO"s homepage, so presenting WoMAU publicly and providing all kinds of projects(academy, festival, WoMAU newsletter etc). She also indicated that WoMAU could join Permanent Consultative Council(PCC) which is one organization of PES(Physical Education and Sports) of UNESCO and serves as a member. In order to do that, WoMAU should  attend the meetings steadily as an observer.

‣ With regard to request of cooperation for an traveling exhibition on UNESCO TSG, the president indicated that to provide the relevant photos, to provide the exhibition place and support the event(something like martial arts demonstration) would be possible through discussion with WoMAU members.

‣ UNESCO recommended to establish UNESCO martial arts centre(Category 2) in Korea considering that there are WoMAU which has member organizations in every region of the world, martial arts festivals and seminars have been  held for many years.