New Year Interview Baek Kyung-yeol, Secretary General of Gyeonggi Province Disability Sports Association

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Um In-yong] Baek Kyung-yeol, Secretary General of the Gyeonggi Province Disability Sports Association, stated, "Over the past year, disability sports in Gyeonggi Province has been able to grow one step further thanks to the sweat and passion of athletes, coaches, and related personnel who did their best in their respective positions for the development of disability sports in Gyeonggi Province." He added, "In the new year, I will do my best so that athletes can pursue their dreams in a fair and safe environment through the activation of disability sports and realize the values of an integrated society. I will make Gyeonggi Province a place where anyone can be happy through sports through balanced development from recreational sports to professional sports," he emphasized.

The following is a question-and-answer session.

▲ What are the directions and policies of the Gyeonggi Province Disability Sports Association for 2026?

- In accordance with Governor Kim Dong-yeon, who serves as chairman of the Gyeonggi Province Disability Sports Association, the principle of "prioritizing efforts to improve the lives of struggling residents," we will make expanding sports activity opportunities for people with disabilities and improving their quality of life the top priority and reflect this in various projects. Like the Governor's New Year's address, "I am a Gyeonggi Province resident," the Gyeonggi Province Disability Sports Association will lead the way in creating a Gyeonggi Province where people with disabilities want to live.

▲ What are the new or priority projects for 2026?

- We will actively participate in ESG management practices through digital transformation. Through the development of our organization's website system, we will computerize existing administrative tasks and convert the settlement system to an online method following the full use of the local subsidy management system (Botame), thereby enabling systematic and efficient operations at project sites.

In order to provide equal participation opportunities for people with disabilities in northern regions where sports participation accessibility is relatively limited due to environmental characteristics, we plan to expand the scale of participation in the "2026 Second Gyeonggi Northern Disability Sports Games." To this end, we will increase operating events and participants from last year's 3 events and 325 people to 5 events and approximately 600 people.

Due to financial and human resource limitations of disability sports organizations, the need to support stable operations has emerged to overcome difficulties in systematic organizational management. Accordingly, we will stabilize overall office operations through quarterly execution checks of administrative subsidies and application procedures and institutionalizing customized job training by position for affiliated organization executives and staff, and will expand the support budget per event from last year's 19-34.2 million won to 23-35 million won for provincial governor-sponsored games to support more stable event operations.

▲ What are plans to improve support for outstanding athletes and coaches and to support full-time sports instructors?

- With improvements in the level of domestic disability sports, the importance and necessity of securing outstanding disabled athletes and fostering basic strategic sports have increased. Accordingly, we will improve the grades and support methods for outstanding athletes and coaches. To this end, we will improve the support amount that was S-grade (2 million won), A-grade (1 million won), B-grade (500,000 won), and C-grade (300,000 won) last year. This year, we will abolish the C-grade and maintain the S-grade (2 million won) and A-grade (1 million won) as before, while increasing the B-grade by 300,000 won to 800,000 won.

In addition, to address disparities in player development capabilities and human resources between municipalities and counties due to geographic characteristics within Gyeonggi Province, we will refine qualification standards for hiring competent full-time sports instructors with professional qualifications and restructure the compensation system. To this end, we will change the seniority system organizational structure from last year to an annual salary system with a 4-tier structure starting this year.

▲ What about the 'Opportunity Sports Viewing Voucher' support project?

- This year, we will continue to promote the 'Opportunity Sports Viewing Voucher' support project to expand viewing opportunities for vulnerable sports populations, and will support group viewing so that people with disabilities in the province can realize social values through sports and diversify promotional methods.

Accordingly, we will support 1,000 won for entrance tickets to professional sports games in the province (4 teams including soccer affiliated with the province). For reference, last year we supported a total of 13,604 people (9,348 people with disabilities and 4,256 accompanying persons).

▲ What are plans to expand corporate sports team sports and recruit personnel?

- We will expand operational scale through player recruitment and establishment of new sports, and support housing stability for newly recruited players. To this end, we plan to recruit 11 outstanding players from other regions and establish a track and field team (4 people/1 track, 3 field).

In addition, to enhance athletic performance, we will recruit national team-level players and strengthen competitiveness in team events through strategic matching with existing players, while creating a basic environment for stable settlement by supporting housing costs such as monthly rent for individuals within a maximum of 500,000 won per month and ensuring stability in mid- to long-term squad operations.