New WT-ADF Cares projects kick off in Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste

By Seok-Jae Kang
Asia Journalists Association Vice President 

SEOUL: World Taekwondo (WT) and the Asia Development Foundation (ADF) kicked off their new WT-ADF Cares Program in three countries – Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Timor-Leste – on July 1, 2022 for a one-year period.

The new WT-ADF Cares projects, funded by the ADF, are designed to help empower the powerless, such as orphans, reformatory inmates and street children, in developing countries in the Asian region through the education of taekwondo and the Korean language.

Under the theme “Bright Future with Taekwondo,” the 2022-2023 Mongolia WT-ADF Cares Program started last week with a total budget of $30,000 for about 200 reformatory inmates in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia.

Under the slogan “Dream through Taekwondo,” the 2022-2023 Kyrgyzstan WT-ADF Cares Program will assist some 150 orphans, 75 in Bishkek and 72 in Cholpon Ata with a total budget of $30,000. The orphans will receive free taekwondo and the Korean language education.

In cooperation with the Timor-Leste Taekwondo Federation and under the slogan “Building Self-Resilience through Taekwondo,” the 2022-2023 Timor-Leste WT-ADF Cares Program will benefit about 60 orphans and 40 female household-violence victims in Dili City with a total budget of $33,000. The Korean Embassy in Timor-Leste will assist the Cares students in the education of the Korean language.

WT President Chungwon Choue said, “the ongoing 2022-2023 WT-ADF Cares projects in Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan and Timor-Leste are meaningful as the Cares students receive education of both taekwondo and the Korean language.”

Since 2016, WT has carried out its Cares programs under the mission “Taekwondo for All,” and “World Peace through Taekwondo.” The vision of the WT Cares Program is to provide taekwondo to those in deed and empower the powerless in developing countries.

In January 2019, WT and the ADF, headed by Kim Joon-il, signed a memorandum of understanding on the WT Cares Program to donate 100 million Korean won (about $90,000) to WT. The ADF donated WT in Cares funds $150,000 in 2020, $200,000 in 2021 and $15,000 in 2022.

Besides the three new WT-ADF Cares projects, WT-ADF Cares projects are under way in four countries – Nepal, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. WT plans to start new Cares projects in late August 2022 in Afghanistan and in Nepal for students of the Um Hong Gil Human Foundation school near Pokhara.

WT wishes to expand the WT Cares projects outside Asia with new donations.