South Korean pop group Wonder Girls will become honorary ambassadors for the 2013 Special Olympics, the organizer announced on Wednesday.

The girl group accepted an invitation from the Special Olympic governing body to help promote the 2013 Games after performing at the closing ceremony of the 2011 Games in Athens, according to the local organizer.

PyeongChang, the host city of 2018 Winter Games, will host the 2013 Special Olympics, the world-class competition for people with mental disabilities.

The Wonder Girls will now act as a global ambassador to Korea of the 2013 Special Olympics, joining Arnold Schwarzenegger, Colin Farrell, Vanessa Williams and Zhang Ziyi who all support the global event.

More than 2,000 athletes from 105 nations will compete at the 2013 Special Winter Games in Korea, which will be the country’s first ever Olympic-type winter sports event.

Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, a member of the Kennedy family who died in 2009, the Special Olympics have grown from a few hundred athletes to more than 3.5 million athletes in more than 170 countries, the organizer said.

Alternating between summer and winter every two years, the event now attracts thousands of Special Olympic athletes. The 2011 Special Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, from June 25-July 4.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)