Minimum Total Area Requirement Lowered to 120 Square Meters
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on May 26 that it will ease the criteria for designating National Physical Fitness Certification Centers and hold an additional open call for 22 locations nationwide, in line with the revised standards, by July 17.
This revision to the notification reflects feedback from the field that the previous spatial requirements posed a barrier for new participation from local governments. Under the updated notification, the minimum total area required for certification centers has been relaxed from the previous 160 square meters to 120 square meters. In addition, the requirement to secure a 7m x 17m space for physical fitness assessments within the same area has been improved. As a result, if it is difficult to secure the required space within the same building, adjacent sports facilities with equivalent space can now be utilized.
Furthermore, the adult agility assessment item can now be substituted with a “reaction time test” instead of the previous “10-meter shuttle run.” The reaction time test measures how quickly the body responds to external stimuli (such as sound). The revised notification can be found on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s official website.
Newly selected National Physical Fitness Certification Centers will receive approximately 100 million won in annual government funding, provided through the National Sports Promotion Fund, to cover operating expenses and personnel costs. Detailed information on the open call can be found on the official website of the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation.
The “National Fitness 100” project is a flagship public sports welfare service that scientifically measures physical fitness by life stage and provides personalized exercise prescriptions and fitness improvement classes. The National Physical Fitness Certification Center began in 2012 with just four sites nationwide and has expanded to 96 locations as of May 2026. The number of participants in fitness assessments and improvement classes also surged from around 12,000 in 2012 to approximately 2.67 million in 2025. As public interest in health improvement and tailored exercise programs continues to rise, demand for the National Physical Fitness Certification Centers is steadily increasing. There are also more cases where fitness assessment results are used in recruitment processes by public institutions and corporations, and the demand for fitness level diagnostics and customized exercise services continues to grow.
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Kim Daehyun, the 2nd Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, “With these improved designation standards, the threshold for local governments to participate has been lowered, and we expect to see more National Physical Fitness Certification Centers established in many regions. By expanding the number of centers nationwide to 150 by 2030, we will provide full support so that everyone can experience the benefits of scientific fitness management, improved health, and reduced medical expenses close to home.”
This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.
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