Emergence and Development of Parkour in South Korea: From Urban Subculture to Sport

Parkour's institutional status has shifted significantly in recent years, particularly following its formal adoption by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Against this backdrop of global developments, this study examines the sociocultural reception and institutionalisation of Parkour in South Korea over the past two decades, from its initial emergence in the early 2000s to its evolving recognition as a formal sport. Drawing upon qualitative document analysis, this study analyses 54 newspapers published between 1990 and 2025, alongside practitioner-generated content, such as online community posts, interviews, and digital media. Based on this analysis, the study reveals three key findings: First, Parkour in South Korea has followed a distinctive bottom-up trajectory, driven not by institutional efforts but by grassroots practitioners and online communities. Second, while it rapidly gained popularity through mass media exposure, Parkour was simultaneously subject to structural neglect and social stigma, often framed as dangerous and delinquent—tensions that defined its formative years. Third, the 2017 recognition of Parkour by the FIG marked a critical turning point, prompting the Korea Gymnastics Association (KGA) to begin its formal domestic institutionalisation. However, this top-down incorporation risks marginalising the cultural values, autonomy, and lived practices of local communities. This study argues that the legitimacy and sustainability of Korean Parkour hinge not on administrative absorption alone but on the meaningful integration of practitioner-led logics into institutional frameworks. As the first scholarly exploration of Parkour in South Korea, this article offers critical groundwork for rethinking how action sports can be formalised without eroding their cultural foundations.