Kukkiwon restructure

[Daniel Sullivan]

To us, the Kwan era doesn't mean the bad old days when Korean martial arts 'lacked unity'; it means the era when the Seoul police deputized instructors and black belt students from the Kwans because their fighting skills were valuable in helping LEOs keep order on some very mean streets; the era when the ROK infantry was feared by its communist enemies in two wars because of their CQ combat abilities.

This is how I grew up thinking of blackbelts. This why I have such strong opinions regarding blackbelts and why I am so firmly against the kiddie blackbelts that are the meat and drink of 90% of the dojangs that claim to be teaching taekwondo in the US.

For us, the KKW means the rejection of that view of TKD. We see it as the technique-side partner of the WTF (which works on the promotion/organization side), collaborating to kill off that earlier vision of TKD and replace it with a sanitized, toothless arena sport. So the problem for us with the restructuring issue of the KKW is that it doesn't get at what we think the real, fundamental trouble is....

I never really looked at the KKW that way myself; its a scary thought for taekwondo if that is what they are actually doing. I just see the KKW as a certification body and little more, though their promotion the hanmadang is cause for some confidence in the KKW.

Daniel