Korea and Indonesia will bolster cooperation in sports as they signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) this week following a summit between two countries.

The Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism confirmed Thursday that it has signed the MOU with Indonesia's Ministry of Youth and Sports after President Park Geun-hye and her Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo held a summit at Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea's presidential office. The two sides on Monday signed 11 MOUs in areas like infrastructure development, trade and energy.

The sports deal includes boosting sports exchange programs between two countries and Korea supporting Indonesia's efforts to successfully host the 2018 Asian Games. The two sides will first exchange athletes, coaches, sports experts and sports administrators to improve the standard of the sports industry in both nations.

The two countries also agreed to participate in friendly events in their nations and exchange information and knowledge in hosting international tournaments. They will also cooperate in anti-doping programs.

"The MOU in sports is so far comprehensive, but we will detail measures to have sports exchange activities frequently and develop the sports industry in both nations," an official from the South Korean sports ministry said.

The MOU also came amid the rising speculation that taekwondo poomsae, which refers to an attack-and-defense pattern in the Korean martial arts, could become the official sport of the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.

The organizing committee of the 18th Asian Games recently said that it wants to stage 37 sports in 2018 and included taekwondo poomsae as one of the official sports, according to an official from the Asian Taekwondo Union on Tuesday. The final decision on Asian Games sports will be made at the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) congress in September, but the Asian sports governing body has generally accepted the host nation's preferences in the selection of official sports. (Yonhap)