World Taekwondo to commemorate decades-long journey toward world peace

World Taekwondo (WT) President Choue Chung-won talks with The Korea Times during a recent interview at WT headquarters in Seoul. Courtesy of WT

Combat sport puts peace before triumph

By Yoon Ja-young

"This is not about fighting. It's about courage, it's about confidence and respect." That's what Terry Crews, the host of NBC's "America's Got Talent," said after a performance by the World Taekwondo (WT) demonstration team, excitedly pushing the Golden Buzzer to advance the team to the quarterfinals.

If there were one more word that should be added to Crew's description of taekwondo, it would be peace. This combat sport is about self-defense rather than offense. It protects not only the self but also the weak. And when it protects the weak, it helps others.

"It seems that taekwondo is more properly evaluated in other countries. Parents are fascinated by the values that it instills in children. It goes beyond being a combat sport. They acknowledge the philosophical meaning there," WT President Choue Chung-won said in a recent interview with The Korea Times.

Taekwondo has been included in official curricula in some regions of the United States. Moreover, the sport is taught to millions of children at schools in China's Sichuan and Henan provinces, Choue noted.

In line with this philosophy, taekwondo has been practiced with refugees, and it never disregards the vulnerable. Choue said those who practice taekwondo know helping others and achieving peace is the greatest joy. "Taekwondo is important as a sport, but we believe contributing to human society is just as important a task," he said.

The WT thus launched the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation in 2016, whose tasks include helping refugees participate in sports. Some of them overcame traumatic experiences they had as refugees and became taekwondo masters. In the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, 16 students have been awarded black belts, including a six-year-old girl.

Teenagers who hold black belts in taekwondo pose at the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. Courtesy of WT

"Life in refugee camps is restricted. Children have nothing to do after school. So we built a facility for taekwondo as well as laying artificial turf. Taekwondo masters teach them not only the martial arts techniques but also values such as the spirit of the Olympics, world peace and how they should live as good global citizens. It is meaningful because children long for a peaceful world more than anyone else," Choue said. "WT has 210 member countries, but we always say there is a 'plus one,' the refugees."

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) shares the value, launching the Olympic Refuge Foundation in 2017. Since Rio 2016 summer Olympics, a team comprised of refugee athletes has participated in the world's ultimate sporting event.

At Tokyo Olympics, three refugee taekwondo athletes competed. "I really hope to see a refugee medalist in the 2024 Paris Olympics. There are around 70 to 80 million refugees around the world, those displaced from their homes for various reasons. They have no dream, no hope," Choue said.

Noting taekwondo's value as a sport for peace, Vatican City submitted an application to become a member of WT. That was after the performance by the WT demonstration team in St. Peter's Square, which amazed a crowd of tens of thousands who were there to see Pope Francis. He greeted the team in person after their demonstration.

Vatican City will be the 211th member of WT when its application gets approval. "We will have 211 plus one, the refugees, of course," Choue stressed. WT will be jointly dispatching masters with the taekwondo association in Italy, and provide equipment, so that the seminarians can learn taekwondo.

In this 2018 May file photo, the WT demonstration team poses with Pope Francis after a performance at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. Courtesy of WT

Taekwondo in hijab

Korea, where taekwondo is rooted, is not a leader when it comes to inclusiveness or gender equality. The martial art, however, has been breaking many sports norms at the forefront, leading changes ahead of other popular sports. It was the first Olympic sport to allow athletes to wear hijab, and the first to increase the number of female competition judges to improve the gender ratio.

"This greatly increased the female taekwondo population in Islamic countries. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is the first country to host the WT Women's Open Championships," Choue said. He added that Iran has over 2 million people learning taekwondo and it is also one of the most widely practiced sports in Iraq. In many Latin American countries, taekwondo is the second most popular sport only after football, he added.

Members of the World Taekwondo demonstration team hold a banner after their performance on NBC's 'America's Got Talent.' Courtesy of WT

'Taekwondo does not belong to Korea'

Choue pointed out that taekwondo and judo are the only sports that have started from Asian countries and made it into the 25 core sports of the Olympics.

"Koreans should be proud and we believe that taekwondo is always Korean. However, it is not only ours anymore. Taekwondo as a martial art started in Korea, but taekwondo as a sport now belongs to the world," he said. Widely practiced around the world, taekwondo is enabling many countries to find hope for their first or only medal in the Olympics, and this represents the spirit of the Olympics, Choue said.

2021 is a special year for taekwondo. The Tokyo Olympics, delayed until this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, marked the 20th anniversary since it was introduced as an official Olympic sport for the first time. It is also the 40th anniversary of the U.N. International Day of Peace, which was first suggested by Choue's late father, Dr. Choue Young-seek, the founder of Kyung Hee University. To commemorate this special concurrence, WT will be holding the "World Taekwondo Peace Festival" on Nov. 22.

The late Choue, also president of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP), proposed the introduction of the peace day at the IAUP meeting in Costa Rica in 1981, which Costa Rica submitted to the U.N. General Assembly on the IAUP's behalf. Today, Sept. 21 is celebrated as the International Day of Peace annually.

Late Choue was a refugee himself in a sense since he also left his home in North Korea to cross the 38th parallel which then divided Korea into North and South. Like other Koreans of his time, he had memories of many wars, including the Korean War (1950-53).

The WT demonstration team took the spotlight as it held up a banner that read, "Peace is More Precious than Triumph," at the end of the performance on "America's Got Talent." The phrase was the title of a book that Choue wrote. The team will be performing at the "World Taekwondo Peace Festival" held in Seosomun, Seoul, Nov. 22. The former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as well as ambassadors from countries that won Olympic medals in taekwondo will be in attendance at the event. Pop-fusion band Leenalchi, Korean Soul and the Korean Adopted Children Choir will also be on stage. The event will be streamed through Naver TV and WT's official YouTube channel from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.