Abstract
This chapter focuses on how one government, South Korea, uses sport as part of a wider strategy to encourage return visits to maintain cultural, economic and political links with its overseas citizens. The chapter is divided into four sections. First, we offer a brief outline of the nature of return visits and their role in the process of building transnational connections and negotiating transnational identities. Second, we review the function and role of the Korean National Sports Festival (NSF), as one particular type of state strategy to promote return visits, and how successive governments have influenced policies towards overseas Koreans participating in the NSF. Third, drawing upon interviews, participant observation and policy document data, we examine South Korean-New Zealanders’ experiences of participation in the NSF, and how this influences their transnational lives and identities. Finally, a conclusion highlights the wider implications of the topic. Overall, the chapter contributes to the conceptualisation of globalisation, migration and transnationalism in relation to identity and citizenship.