The 2018 Northeast Asia Martial Arts Forum started today at the UN House in Ulaanbaatar. The aims of the event are to exchange information about the current state of martial arts development in Northeast Asian countries, develop regional partnership and to support youth and women to train in martial arts.
Co-organized by the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO and the International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement (ICM) under the auspices of UNESCO, the forum is attended by about 40 representatives from the governments of North Korea, South Korea, China and Japan as well as the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO and martial arts organizations.
Training in martial arts from a young age has a strong influence on children’s development. For this reason, experience sharing for developing martial arts with other countries, and suggestions and proposals for measures to be taken in the future, such as including martial arts in the secondary school programme, are under discussion.
The signing ceremony for memorandum of understanding between the Mongolian National Commission for UNESCO and the ICM took place at the start of the forum. Performances of the biyelgee folk dance and morin khuur were also staged for the forum attendants.
The forum will take place for two days.