Local governments in the Chungcheong provinces are banding together in hopes of hosting an international sporting event and to promote Korea’s soft power, the North Chungcheong Province governor said Thursday.

The local governments of Sejong, Daejeon, South Chungcheong and North Chungcheong Province have teamed up for a joint bid to host the 34th Summer World University Games in 2027.

More than 15,000 university students from 174 countries participate in the event. Organized by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), it is staged every two years in a different city and was last held in 2019 at Napoli, Italy.

“I cannot emphasize enough how important it is for us to host the Summer World University Games since it would be the only international sporting event to be held in Korea in almost 10 years since the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics,” North Chungcheong Province Gov. Lee Si-Jong said during an interview with The Korea Herald.

Lee said the four local governments joining hands can lower the cost of hosting the games as it would fully utilize existing facilities in the region. The cities altogether have 33 athletic facilities, 35 training facilities and 87 accommodations for 40,000 people.

“Co-hosting can cut the heavy cost of building new facilities. It is in line with the FISU and International Olympic Committee’s core value, ‘sustainability,’” Lee said.

Lee stressed that Korea has the experience of hosting the games in 2003 in Daegu, when athletes from 170 countries had participated -- the highest on record at the time.

In 2015, despite an outbreak of the Middle East respiratory syndrome, the games in Gwangju drew 10,822 participants from 140 countries. It broke the record again for the largest number of participants, a title it still holds.

“We are aiming to become the host that holds the most countries and participants this time,” Lee said.

Lee also highlighted that since the Chungcheong region is located at the heart of the Korean Peninsula, participants from all around the world would be able to conveniently access the venues. It will take approximately two hours from Incheon International Airport to Daejeon by high-speed KTX trains.

After formal consultations with the central government, four cities will jointly submit a letter of intent to FISU by January 2022.

They will propose adding three new categories in the competition to the usual 15 games, Lee said. FISU then will select a winner among the bids in January 2023.

The four cities were chosen to submit the joint bid for the games at a meeting held by the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee at the Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul, Thursday.

By Byun Hye-jin (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)