Korea opens 1st national sports museum to preserve historic triumphs

Korea inaugurated its inaugural national sports museum on Thursday, housing a collection of approximately 70,000 artifacts and records that chronicle the nation's sporting accomplishments and milestones. Situated within Olympic Park in Seoul's southern Songpa District, the National Sports Museum was established jointly by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation.

The museum's primary objective is to safeguard and exhibit Korea's rich sporting heritage, enabling visitors to relive the triumphs that have influenced athletes and spectators throughout the decades.

Among the highlights of the museum's exhibits are the gold medal earned by marathon runner Suh Yun-bok during the 1947 Boston Marathon, the soccer cleats once worn by Korean soccer icon Kim Yong-sik, the competition uniform sported by Yang Jung-mo, Korea's inaugural Olympic gold medalist, and the Olympic torch utilized in the 1988 Seoul Games.

Additionally, the museum's collection includes the basketball hoop employed during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Olympics, a poignant reminder of one of the event's most memorable moments.