Kim Dae-hyun, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, visits the Badminton Senior League site: "Life sports are the most effective way to reduce medical cost burdens"

*This content was translated by AI.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced that Kim Dae-hyun, Second Vice Minister, visited Eojindong Complex Community Center in Sejong City on the 7th to tour the '2026 Sports Club Division Badminton Senior League' site and encouraged participating athletes and officials.

According to the Ministry, the 'Sports Club Division (promotion/relegation league)' is a project designed to expand the number of sports participants through leagues organized by skill level and sport type, while strengthening the connection between professional sports and life sports. The system operates by promoting teams to higher leagues or relegating them to lower leagues based on game results. This year, approximately 137,000 people are expected to participate in 2,461 leagues across 15 sports nationwide.

In particular, the 'Senior League,' which the Ministry is actively promoting to address an aging society, currently sees 3,666 seniors participating in 220 leagues across seven sports: soccer, billiards, table tennis, badminton, tennis, footvolley, and basketball. Among these, the 'Badminton Senior League' operates on the largest scale, with 1,224 participants from 102 leagues across all 15 provinces and cities nationwide.

The revitalization of this senior league reflects the Ministry's intention to shift its policy paradigm from 'treatment-centered' to 'prevention-centered' in response to the rapidly increasing medical cost burden associated with entering an ultra-aged society. The promotion/relegation league, previously focused on children and youth, has been expanded to include seniors and other generations, creating an environment where seniors can continuously exercise and interact within their local communities.

Thanks to these policy efforts, the national participation rate in life sports increased from 60.7% in 2024 to 62.9% in 2025. Participation among those aged 70 and over also steadily rose from 57.7% to 59.5% during the same period.

Furthermore, the promotion/relegation leagues operated at the city, county, and district levels nationwide have become venues for regular interaction and communication among local residents. The Ministry expects these leagues to help seniors in areas with declining populations or high proportions of elderly residents build social relationships and revitalize communities, thereby injecting new vitality into their regions.

Kim Dae-hyun emphasized at the site that "in an ultra-aged society, life sports are the most effective preventive policy for protecting national health and proactively addressing the rapidly rising medical cost burden, as well as a national investment to strengthen national competitiveness."

He added, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will aggressively expand funding for life sports in the future to create an environment where all generations can participate in exercise in their daily lives, contributing to improved national health and reduced social costs such as medical expenses."

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*This content was translated by AI.