TaeKwon-Do Became Korea’s Greatest Gift by George Vitale

Taekwon-Do came of age after a lengthy devastating occupation, a brutal civil war and the constant and continuing cold war standoff that was the result of an unfair division of its homeland by foreign powers. It was TaekwonDo that was South Korea’s first export. The internalization of Taekwon-Do began under General Choi’s visionary leadership in 1959, when others in Korea were still using the Karate based names. The rapid globalization mirrored the rise in the economic power of Korea. Taekwon-Do became Korea’s greatest gift to the world. This present was well received all over the planet. In 1980 two milestone events took place. One was the acceptance of the World Taekwondo Federation’s (WTF) combat sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a sport, but not yet entering their official program. The other was General Choi’s diplomatic efforts to introduce Taekwon-Do to the northern half of Korea for the first time. This historic event was especially ironic, since the north would embrace the original Taekwon-Do that began in their enemy, the south’s ROK Army. General Choi’s purpose was to show that through Taekwon-Do, one could make friends with former enemies. In the United States, in a rural state called Iowa, back in 1980, as Taekwon-Do was firmly centered on the world stage, a Korean-American TaeKwon-Do Master launched a publication called TaeKwonDo Times. The Pioneer was named Kim Chung-Eun. This magazine began in the back of his DoJang in Davenport. About a year later other notable Korean Pioneer Grandmasters would join this effort, taking the nascent magazine from a small publication to one of national prominence. These Pioneers were Grandmasters Sang Kyu Shim, Jung Nam Lee and current CEO and Publisher Woo-Jin Jung. A friend of Grandmaster Jung’s Dr. Yang Ahn, a medical doctor, also financially supported this effort. The new TaeKwonDo Times team ensured that the publication would grow rapidly. Not only was the expansion international, but TKD Times outlasted numerous other print magazines. For over 40 years, TKD Times survived as the only international publication. The success can be tied to the submissions of TaeKwonDo enthusiasts from around the world. As TaeKwon-Do progressed, so did TKD Times. In 2006 Grandmaster Jung Woo-Jin became CEO and Publisher. The international office for TKD Times was relocated to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. For over 15 years, under the leadership of Grandmaster Jung, TKD Times took a prominent role in uniting the world through Martial Arts. A long held dream of General Choi was to use his Taekwon-Do to reunite his beloved homeland of Korea. His final Pattern he named TONGIL, which denotes the reunification of Korea. Grandmaster Jung was handed the “baton” of General Choi’s Taekwon-Do Diplomacy, when the General passed away in 2002. The efforts of TKD Times to host a TaekwonDo team from North Korea since the early 1990’s proved successful when teams toured the USA both in 2007 and 2011, making history! Taekwon-Do and TKD Times made this possible, due to the perseverance and vision of Grandmaster Jung and his staff. These efforts led to an unprecedented level of cooperation between the two major TaeKwonDo organizations, the ITF and WTF. Many notable agreements of significance took

place. This was all done with Grandmaster Jung and his staff in the background, pulling strings and pushing people in the right directions. In turn, this led to teams from the north to visit and perform in the south and the south reciprocating by touring the north. When myself and Grandmaster Jung were invited by the WTF to their 2017 world championships, it opened the door for the Democratic People’s Republic of (north) Korea to send a large contingent to the 2018 Winter Olympics hosted by the Republic of Korea. South Korean President Moon JaeIn dubbed this the “Peace Olympics” and they were a smashing success. As a vice president of TKD Times, a spokesman for ITF TaekwonDo and a trusted confidant of the WT(F) leadership, this was a highlight of my long time involvement with the Korean Martial Art I love deeply. TaeKwon-Do is officially in over 210 countries around the world. It has covered this global growth since 1980. Today even refugees left stateless can compete under the Refugee Banner of the WT(F). The WT has established a TKD Peace Corp and a TKD Humanitarian Foundation. Peace is more precious than triumph, a slogan often recited by WT President Dr. Choue Chung-Won. The challenges we face with a global pandemic and a vanishing print media, the result of an ever increasing electronic media format has resulted in the ending of printed editions of TKD Times. The reality of 2020-21 means all of the future efforts of TKD Times will take place digitally. The new stories that will need to be told, the new TaeKwon-Do stars that we will need to meet, will be done electronically. TKD Times has been there since the Karate Kid movies of the 1980’s, the Jackie Chan remake and yes, now through the new spin off series Cobra Kai, now in its third season. TKD Times magazine will cover this and much more. Hopefully our loyal followers over the last 40 plus years, will be there going forward, with new future students joining us. After all, it always was about the students. At present, the dedicated staff of TKD Times is in the process of scanning every previous issue. These digitized issues, along with any printed magazines still in our archives, will be made available to the public. In this way we can keep a new 2021 version of TKD Times viable. At the same time it will be preserved forever and for all future TaeKwon-Do enthusiasts, our history, our stories and our records made and broken. Thank you readers for your great support and valuable friendship over our many years together. A massive thanks to my mentor, Grandmaster Jung Woo-Jin. Your guidance has meant the world to me, opened doors I never knew existed and taught me things I never realized I was missing. I am a better man, a better martial artist, because of your loving guidance and careful tutelage. My thanks and deep appreciation to the staff at TKD Times. Your valuable assistance and great support can never be adequately categorized. Your work is truly indispensable. As you know, it will be vital going forward. I remain steadfast in my service to TaekwonDo, for without it, I am a mere shell. I am, and remain, affectionately yours! Dr. George Vitale Vice President- TKD Times