ITF and WTF Presidents meet in Germany prior to German Open

[Metal]

WTF-President Dr. Chungwon Choue and ITF-President Chang Ung were invited by DTU (German national member association of WTF) President Soo-Nam Park.

In October Dr. Chungwon Choue had already requested Park to use his excellent contacts to the ITF officials and approach the ITF.
( http://www.tubw.de/article.php?id=62 )

Well, no details or info on what was discussed at the meeting.


http://www.dtu.de/21.html?&cHash=2eb53e80f49e022cdc2bd52ed4e144e7&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=667

 

[Gorilla]

Lots of things happening in Germany this week!

 

[Metal]

Lots of things happening in Germany this week!

Had some trouble with the stream during the finals and also during Dr. Chungwon Choue's speech. Didn't get to hear what Dr. h.c. Soo Nam Park was saying after the WTF presidents speech at all.

Got to see that ITF-President Chang Ung was handing out the medals in the -67 female category though. That was definitely a historic moment for Taekwondo.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Which ITF President? There are at least three...

 

[chrispillertkd]

Which ITF President? There are at least three...

The one who heads the ITF that is headquartered in North Korea. He's an IOC member for the DPRK. That was one reason why I was surprised to see the statement that Park, Soo-Nam had "excellent contacts with the ITF officials..."

Pax,

Chris

 

[Dirty Dog]

The one who heads the ITF that is headquartered in North Korea. He's an IOC member for the DPRK. That was one reason why I was surprised to see the statement that Park, Soo-Nam had "excellent contacts with the ITF officials..."

True. It's certainly unusual to see much contact between North and South Korean officials of any kind.

 

[Metal]

True. It's certainly unusual to see much contact between North and South Korean officials of any kind.

Well, the Executive Board of the Chang Ung ITF isn't entirely North Korean. So I'd guess he knows some other people on the board or high dan holders of the Chang Ung ITF. Or maybe he just knows ITF masters who split from Chang Ung's ITF, but WTF still sees this as a better connection than everybody else in the WTF has? Well, who knows. No details were given in the text.


Another point that came to my mind:

The WTF is interested in growing and gaining more national member associations. They're already one of the worldwide federations in the world of sports that have the most members, they're even getting close to football/soccer!

So adding North Korea is probably one of the next steps.

Having even more members plus a consent (or whatever will happen or whatever they'll actually do) with the other worldwide federation (eventhough that one was spit into three parts) will strengthen TKD even more and keep it in the Olympics beyond 2020.

 

[Markku P]

I think WTF-Taekwondo is still growing and ITF-Taekwondo will split even more. I don't see this as a problem. It just bring more opportunities for people to find Taekwondo school.

 

[Gorilla]

How closely affiliated to N Korea is the ITF?

 

[Dirty Dog]

How closely affiliated to N Korea is the ITF?

About as close as the Kukkiwon is the South Korea.

 

[Metal]

How closely affiliated to N Korea is the ITF?

North Korea came into play when the ITF ran out of two things: Korean instuctors and money.

In order to spread ITF Taekwondo to new markets in the 80s General Choi needed Korean instructors, but nearly all South Korean instructors had left the ITF due to political reasons. So Choi's only chance was to introduce Taekwondo in North Korea.

For example Master J.C. Kim said the following when asked about why many of the Korean Masters had left: "General Choi is giving too many political statements due to pressure from the WTF and the Korean (R.O.K.) Government. They all left due to the political situation." Thus the ITF was in dire need of new Korean instructors in order to continue to spread the art to every area of the world. The only way to do this was to introduce ITF Taekwon-Do to North Korea.

There were huge benefits for the ITF such as Korean instructors, the Taekwon Do Palace in North Korea, and indeed monetary benefits (e.g. the ITF offices in Vienna were paid for by North Korea and this money flow was undoubtedly very significant.

http://www.cullompton-taekwondo.co.uk/patterns/juche_versus_kodang.htm

 

[Gorilla]

How do ITF Martial Artists in the USA feel about being so closely tied to the N. Korean government!

The KKW is closely tide to S. Korea!

 

[Jaeimseu]

How do ITF Martial Artists in the USA feel about being so closely tied to the N. Korean government!

The KKW is closely tide to S. Korea!

Are many schools in the US affiliated with that ITF?

 

[Gorilla]

Are many schools in the US affiliated with that ITF?

I think 5 to 1 KKW to ITF...in the USA

Looks like N Korea in ramping up the rhetoric this week! Did they resend the 1953 armistice. Allot of nerves on the DMZ!

 

[chrispillertkd]

How closely affiliated to N Korea is the ITF?

Depends on which ITF group you mean. The ITF under Grand Master CHoi, Jung Hwa not at all. In fact, his telling the North Koreans that they would have no influence greater than any other member country over the ITF was pretty much the start of the attempts to oust him as President.

The ITF under Grand Master Pablo Tratjenberg, none at all. They're involved in a pretty big court case in Austra against the ITF headed by Chang Ung, in fact.

The ITF headed by Chang Ung, a North Korean IOC member? That's a good question. It's president is a NK government official and there are some other North Koreans on its executive board. How close this makes the organization itself to NK is open to debate, IMO. Personally, I find it far fetched to think Chang Ung isn't getting at least some orders from Pyongyang since he's their IOC member and the topic of a possible ITF/WTF merger is a point of discussion between the two Koreas. Anything else would be speculation but it should be kept in mind that NK keeps its people on a pretty close leash, even if they are in other countries.

Pax,

Chris

 

[chrispillertkd]

Are many schools in the US affiliated with that ITF?

There are many affiliated with the 3 ITF groups and more that are affiliated with GM Hwang, Kwang Sung's group and Grad Master Sereff's group. Since "affiliation" with the KKW is different than being affiliated with the ITF it's hard to make a true comparison. Anyone with a KKW 4th dan can issue a KKW certificate. Does that make their school a KKW school? To be affiliated with the ITF you have to actually join one of its national organizations.

Pax,

Chris

 

[chrispillertkd]

I think 5 to 1 KKW to ITF...in the USA

Interesting. Where did you get the statistics from?

I'd have thought it would've been a great KKW:ITF ratio.

Pax,

Chris