12 December 2024, Busan. The Philippine Embassy in Korea represented by Ambassador Theresa Dizon-De Vega took part in the opening program for the 2024 Busan-ASEAN Esports Global Exchange which took place on November 29, 2024, at the Busan Esports Arena. The event was organized by the Busan Metropolitan City, Busan Global City Foundation (BGCF), and the Busan IT Industry Promotion Agency (BIPA). The event aimed to foster cultural exchange and promote the growing esports industry among youth from Busan and ten ASEAN countries, including the Philippines.

The event featured a competitive tournament with teams of four representing different ASEAN nations. Over 2,500 spectators attended over the course of the competition sessions, and the competition culminated in an award ceremony where the top three teams were recognized. Competing teams came from schools with a high concentration of multicultural students in the Busan Metropolitan Area.

Among the special guests at the opening event were Busan Vice Mayor for Administrative Affairs Lee Jun-seung, BGCF CEO Jun Yong-Woo, BIPA CEO Kim Tae-yeol, and ASEAN Culture House Director General Lee In Hyuck.

In his welcoming remarks BGCF CEO Jun Yong-Woo underscored the event’s role in fostering more collaboration among ASEAN countries and Busan in the key emerging sectors of gaming and digital innovation. Busan Vice Mayor Lee Jun Seung in his keynote remarks emphasized Busan’s commitment to becoming a global Esports hub and touted the construction of city’s esports arena as a major step forwards towards this goal. He expressed appreciation to nationals from ASEAN countries for taking part in the event.

In her congratulatory remarks, Ambassador Dizon-de Vega shared that Esports is fast becoming a popular platform for sports and innovation engagement between ASEAN and Korea in general and with ROK innovation hubs like Busan, in particular. She likewise noted that in ASEAN there has been a surge in Esports popularity and that the Philippines as host of the 2019 SEA Games was the first country to present Esports as a medal competition sport in the SEAG. Increasing interest in Esports has led to the offering of a four-year university degree in Esports Science at the Lyceum of the Philippines.

Representatives from each ASEAN country received their official competition armbands from the special guests at the event.

Busan has been the longtime host of the G-Star Convention, one of the largest gaming conventions in the world and where there is regular participation from Philippine gaming and related companies. END