A Penang based taekwon-do body for GTF, ITF and WTF practitioners
HQ Address: 33A Jalan Tembikai, 14000 Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Malaysia.
Library ; Black Belt Club ; E-Commerce Pattern
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In 1955 General Choi spread taekwondo to all universities and military outposts throughout Korea, backed by the military. The military command at Tae Jon was the centre of activity.
In 1959 saw the formation of the Korean Taekwon-do Association where all the kwans came under one roof.General Choi had the support of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Sports , which was the official sports governing body in Korea. The members who attended the meeting were:
1. the Director of the Korean Amateur Sports Association
2. the Director of Physical Education from the Ministry of Education
3. General Choi Hong Hi
4. The Kwan Jang of the major kwans - Chung Do Kwan,Oh Do Kwan,Song Moo Kwan, Chang Moo Kwan and
Moo Duk Kwan
At this meeting General Choi Hong Hi was elected the 1st. President of Korean Taekwon-do Association ( KTA ). However Hwang Ki, the Kwan Jang of Moo Duk Kwan decided to run his kwan independently and seceded from KTA
1959 was also the year when taekwon-do was introduced out of Korea. General Choi Hong Hi and Major Nam Tae Hi, together with 18 of his best taekwon-do instructors toured the Far East, giving demonstrations and opening associations in each country they visited. This new art was a craze.
The Vietnam war broke out in 1960. Major Nam Tae Hi was among those who were sent to Vietnam on active duty.It was from the army that many of the combat taekwon-do instructors were trained and later dispatched to other countries after they have been released from the army.
However there was a lot of unhappiness in KTA. General Choi was accused of being autocratic and not consulting other kwans in decisions. Black Belt holders from all civilian kwans had to resit for their black belts when they joined the army.Only members from Oh Do Kwan and Nam Tae Hi's Chung Do Kwan were exempted. He was also accused of dispatching instructors without consultation.General Choi held extreme power because of his military position and the backing of the Liberal Party of President Rhee Syn Man. He practically overshadowed all the other masters of other kwans.
1960 was also a year full of events in Asia.Not only did the Vietnam war break out but there was a political upheaval in Korea. General Park Chung Hee planned and launched a military coup de tat and ended democracy in Korea, ousting President Rhee Syng Man, forcing him to resign on 27 April, 1960. General Park ruled Korea under military rule and instituted severe autocracy and crushed all potential enemies, using the Korean Criminal Investigation Agency ( KCIA ). It was said that he strengthened the KCIA from a meagre 3,000 members to 37,000 within a period of three years.The irony was that President Park was assasinated by his most trusted man, Kim Chae Kyu the chief of KCIA in 1979.
General Choi, the good friend of President Rhee was the Commander of the ROK 6th. Army Corp, Director of the ROK Army Intelligence and the Commander of the 2nd. Nonsan Army Training School was deemed a potential threat to General Park Chung Hee. General Choi was exiled to Malaysia as the Ambassador of South Korea. General Choi Hong Hi had lost his hold of taekwon-do in Korea.
Hwang Ki of Moo Duk Kwan took the opportunity of General Choi's absence from Korea to register a new body, the Soo Bak Do Association . He claimed that Soo Bak Do should be the name of the national art and not Taekwon-do. What he did infuriated all KTA members. KTA sent a letter to the Korean registration body, condemning the doing of Hwang Ki and demanding that Soo Bak Do be deregistered.The Korean Amateur Sports Association proposed that both associations merge as Korea could not recognise two national bodies. After many meetings the name compromised was Tae Soo Do, a marriage between Taekwon-do and Soo Bak Do! Soo Bak Do Association was deregistered.
.After the name was agreed upon the Committee was elected. The revolution saw the emergence of Lee Chong Woo and Uhm Won Kyu who were elected Vice Presidents. The President's post was left vacant until such time when the appropriate man was found. Many masters of the first generation resigned or were forced to resign.
Chung An Dojang but it was renamed Kukkiwon. The building was officially opened on November; 30, 1972
In 1962 Lee Chong Woo and Uhm Woon Kyu, through a third party invited General Choi Myung Shin, the Chairman of the ROK Military Chief of Staff , to sit as the President Of Tae Soo Do Association.Master Park Jung Tae was the second President. Much to the hostility of Lee and Uhm, General Choi Hong Hi returned to Korea in 1964 after serving in Malaysia as the ambassador of Korea. In 1965 General Choi was again elected by Korean Tae Soo Do members to head the association. He immediately changed the name of Korean Tae Soo Do Association to Korean Taekwon-do Association again . He was the third President. However the new regime had given Lee Chong Woo and Uhm Woon Kyu much power in Korea. In 1966 General Choi was forced to resign from KTA . However he formed the International Taekwon-do Federation on 22 March, 1966 with 9 countries : Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, West Germany, USA, Turkey, the United Arab Republic, Italy and Korea. From 1966 to 1971 taekwon-do spread like wild fire under General Choi and Major Nam Tae Hi . In 1970 itself they introduced taekwon-do to 21 countries.He dispatched a total of 657 Korean instructors around the world.
However things were not plain sailing for General Choi. On October 18, 1971, 6th. Dan Korean taekwon-do instructor Yun Kum Joong, 32, was assasinated in Ipoh, after serving only eleven months in Malaysia.. The case was never solved by the Malaysian police or Interpol. After this incident many Korean instructors disassociated themselves from General Choi Hong Hi and the taekwon-do intrigue. This was a period of low for ITF and General Choi Hong Hi but his determination put ITF on its foot again.. When he passed away of stomache cancer on June 15, 2002 at the age of 84 there were 123 countries with International Taekwon-do Federation.
Korean Tae Soo Do Association was formed in May 1961. There was no president until 1963 when KTA invited General Choi Myung Shin to sit as president. In 1965 Korean Tae Soo Do was renamed Korean Taekwon-do Association by General Choi .The presidents of KTA were as follows:
1. General Choi Myung Shin 1963
2. Master Park Jung Tae 1964
3. General Choi Hong Hi 1965
4. Master Ro Byung Jik1966
5. Mr. Kim Yong Chae 1967 - 1970
6. Mr. Kim Un Yong 1971 - 2004
; There was not much development in Korea under KTA until 1967 when the Kim Yong Chae took over. He was the 5th. President of KTA . Kim Yong Chae was credited as the man who raised 30,000,000 won to build Chung An Dojang which was eventually named Kukkiwon.
World Taekwon-do Federation
In 1971 Mr. Kim Un Yong, a politician by profession took over as President of KTA. He continued and completed the project of Chung An Dojang which was begun by Kim Yong Chae. Chung An Dojang was later officially renamed Kukkiwon.Under Kim's leadership KTA formed the World Taekwon-do Federation ( WTF ) on 28 May, 1973 during the 1st. World Taekwon-do Championship in Seoul to rival the ITF. The work of the WTF culminated in the adoption of taekwon-do as an Olympic Game in Sydney, Australia on September 27 - 30, 2000. Mr. Kim Un Yong held office as President of the WTFfor a period of 31 years,until his resignation on January 9, 2004, in connection with his alleged corruption and embezzlement of taekwon-do and other sports fund.
Global Taekwon-do Federation
The Global Taekwon-do Federation was formed by Grandmaster Park Jung Tae, the second President of Korean Taekwon-do Association.. A taekwon-do legend - an army instructor in Vietnam during the Vietnam War had; travelled to many continents under ITF demonstrating and promoting taekwon-do. He was the pioneer of taekwon-do in China, Russia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, North Korea and Japan.He was ITF's Technical chairman for many years until his disagreement on certain issues within ITF. He left ITF and formed the Global Taekwon-do Federation on June 14, 1990. Grandmaster Park passed away on April 11, 2002.
