On July 16 the FIDE President visited Seoul where he had a meeting with the Governor of Gangwon Province, President of the Organizing Committee of Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang, Mr. Choi Moon-soon. The meeting was organized with the active participation of the Korean Chess Federation and its President Ms. Hyun In Suk.

Mr. Ilyumzhinov made a presentation and spoke about the activities of FIDE, its main programme and the projects of the Federation with efforts undertaken to include chess into the Olympic family. In particular, during the last meeting of the FIDE delegation with the President of the IOC Mr. Thomas Bach, it was noted that the chess programme does not require the construction of separate infrastructure with its high costs and is notable for its organizational flexibility. At the same time, it can attract attention of a very large audience, especially a foreign audience, this makes it very important for the local tourism industry.

The possibility of organising large chess forums together  with the Olympic heritage, in particular the World Chess Olympiad in 2020 aroused a great deal of interest of the Governor. Following the meeting, Mr. Choi Moon-soon, as the Head of the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympic Games 2018 invited FIDE to participate in the Games as a demonstration sport! FIDE President invited the Governor Choi Moon-soon to the FIDE Congress in September in Abu Dhabi for further discussions of issues of bilateral cooperation.

Whilst there, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov also met with former President of South Korea, Lee Myung-bak.

The President of FIDE, President of IMSA, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov held a press-conference for accredited journalists in Seoul where he spoke about his working visit to the capital of South Korea. In particular, he noted that chess will be featured as a demonstration sport during Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang. This became known after the meeting with the Governor of Gangwon Province, President of the Organizing Committee of Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang Mr. Choi Moon-soon. FIDE President answered numerous questions of the journalists, including plans to pay an official visit to North Korea at the end of the month to determine the activities of the local chess federation.