WTF President Chungwon Choue proposed the creation of the so-called “Sport Peace Corps,” together with the United Nations, the International Olympic Committee and the International Sports Federations, at the U.N.-IOC Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland on May 22, 2010.

“The Sport Peace Corps entails provisions of comprehensive sport-related assistance to not only underdeveloped countries, but any U.N.-assigned areas,” WTF President Choue said in his presentation on the second day of the two-day forum at the Olympic Museum Auditorium of the IOC Headquarters.

The forum drew such influential international sports figures as IOC President Jacques Rogge; Mr. Wilfried Lemke, special adviser to the UNSG on sport for development and peace; Mr. Christophe de Kepper, IOC chief of staff; Mr. Phil Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee; and Mr. Hein Verbruggen, president of SportAccord.

The forum participants adopted 10 resolutions, in which they especially commended the “achievements of the WTF in its successful outreach to young people and its aims of building a better and more peaceful world; and to advocate the consideration of its global expansion, in close cooperation with key stakeholders, including the IOC, the UN, national and international sports federations and NOCs, firmly believing that together, we have the ability to promote global peace and harmony through sport.”

Under the topic “Sports Diplomacy: The WTF Experience,” WTF President Choue told the forum participants, “the assistance includes providing equipment, and skills and training for local athletes and coaches for any Olympic sport in countries in need.”“This gives hopes and dreams to the young people who are deprived of the opportunity to learn while promoting friendship, peace and understanding through sport and interpersonal interactions.”

“All of these efforts will be done at the same time as sharing the Olympic spirit and the United Nations’ aspirations for peace,” he continued.

“I am encouraged by the initiation of this program, and I know that it can be expanded by collaborative efforts between the United Nations and the IOC,” Dr. Choue said. “I have shared the successes of the pilot WTF Taekwondo Peace Corps, and my vision of a Sport Peace Corps both with IOC President Rogge and U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. As steps by both organizations move toward such cooperative work, I can see my vision becoming a reality.”

He continued, “The world needs help and hope. They need pride and a sense of integrity. It is true that clothes are needed. Houses, food, and money are needed. But more than anything else, the world needs dreams to dream and goals to reach for. Taekwondo and the WTF are doing their parts to bring these dreams. But more can be done. The United Nations and the IOC together with International Federations can build a coalition, a Sport Peace Corps to deliver all of these things.” [By WTF/NBC-1TV H. J Yook]