Taekwondo in Central Role at 1st DMZ Peace Festival

The 2019 DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) Peace Festival took place in Paju, Korea, on June 29, 2019 with thousands of Taekwondo practitioners taking part to promote a message of world peace.

The 2019 DMZ Peace Festival was jointly promoted by GCS International, headed by Chungwon Choue, who also serves as president of World Taekwondo (WT), and the Kukmin Daily, one of Korea’s nationwide newspapers.

Paju City, actually a county in Gyeonggi Provice, is north of Seoul and just south of the DMZ that divides the Koreas. It takes about one hour by car to get to the Paju Peace Nuri Park, the festival venue, from Seoul.

The inaugural event was organized by the DMZ Peace Festival Organizing Committee and Co. Act, a non-profit organization initially run by high school and college students in the United States.

Among supporters of the peace festival were WT, the Oughtopian Peace Foundation, Radian QBio, Paju City, the Korean National Tuberculosis Association, the National Unification Advisory Council and the Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Under the theme “Hand in Hand for Peace,” the one-day event aimed to provide free Taekwondo education for children in developing countries and to promote world peace.

Among VIPs attending the inaugural DMZ Peace Festival were

Choue; Byun Jae-woon, president of the Kukmin Ilbo; Lee Hwayoung, vice governor for peace of Gyeonggi Province; Choi Jongwhan, mayor of Paju City and Seung Myung-ho, a board member of GCS International and chairman of the Hankook Ilbo.

The festival was composed of two parts: an official opening ceremony including Taekwondo performances by the WT Taekwondo Demonstration Team and the GCS Global Peace Corps Taekwondo Demonstration Team and an art exhibition along the electric fences of the DMZ near the Peace Nuri Park.

Around 5,000 Taekwondo practitioners from across Korea also carried out a flash mob performance, wishing for world peace, drawing applause from the spectators.

For the art exhibition of the 2019 DMZ Peace Festival, Cooperation Act, a U.S. NGO, received about 500 drawings and paintings in a digital art file from participants outside of Korea. The topic of the art exhibition was world peace. The art pieces were on display in an original size and/or in a postcard size in two designated areas.

“We are pleased to work with the Kukmin Daily for the 2019 DMZ Peace Festival through which we want to show the world that Taekwondo is a peace-loving Olympic sport,” said Choue. “Sport is a precious tool to bring humans together across political barriers, and World Taekwondo is strongly committed to this goal.”

2020 DMZ Peace Festival Held Online, Offline

World Taekwondo (WT) supported the 2020 DMZ Peace Festival, which was held in both on- and off-line formats on Oct. 7, 2020.

The 2020 DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) Peace Festival, the second of its kind, was jointly promoted by GCS International, a Seoul-based U.N.-affiliated NGO, and the Kukmin Ilbo, a daily newspaper.

Other backers included the Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, WT, the Gyeonggi-Do Taekwondo Association, the Oughtopian Peace Foundation, the GCS Korea Chapter and the Korean Fair Play Committee. The event took place at the Convention Hall of the Kukmin Ilbo with the attendance of less than 50 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was broadcast live via YouTube.

The event drew dignitaries such as GCS International and WT President Chungwon Choue and Kukmin Ilbo President Jae-woon Byun.

As a special guest, Master Jeong Soon-cheon of Canada attended the event as in his capacity as a member of the Public Relations Committee of the International Taekwondo Federation.

Attending the event online were representatives from about 40 GCS national chapters, of which a dozen delivered their peace messages in real time via Zoom.

The festival started with opening remarks by Kukmin Ilbo President Byun and GCS International President Choue, followed by an award- ing ceremony for the winners of a world peace art contest, a video showing of a joint Taekwondo demonstration by WT and the International Taekwon-Do Federation, and a 30-minute online peace-message presentation session.

“The DMZ Peace Festival aims to help enhance the awareness of world peace, thus helping create an amicable atmosphere for a unified Korea,” said Choue. “In this regard, the 2020 DMZ Peace Festival has a special meaning in that this year marks the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War.”

“The power of sport is great,” said Byun in his opening remarks. “Through the Korean national sport of Taekwondo, the Kukmin Ilbo wants to keep sending the message of peace and hope to the world, together with GCS International.”

“I congratulate the DMZ Peace Festival Organizing Committee for your enormous contributions in making this a significant day,” said Selma Li, president of the GCS Portland, USA Chapter, in an online peace message.

Taekwondo Master Rick Shin also delivered a short peace message for the attendants.

The 2020 DMZ Peace Festival closed with a group photo, with attendees holding up the GCS banner.

Taekwondo Joins 2021 DMZ Peace Festival

The 2021 DMZ Peace Festival was held successfully in Paju, Korea, on June 20, 2021.

The 2021 DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) Peace Festival, the third of its kind, was jointly promoted by GCS International, a Seoul-based U.N.-affiliated NGO, and the Kukmin Ilbo daily.

The event, which was held at the Theater Hall of the Munsan Administrative Welfare Center in Paju, north of Seoul and near the DMZ, was supported by World Taekwondo (WT); the Korea Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; GCS Korea Chapter, and the Korea Fair Play Committee.

Because of the COVID-19 situation, a maximum of 100 people were allowed to participate in the 2021 fest.

The event, which was broadcast live via YouTube, drew dignitaries such as GCS International and WT President Chungwon Choue; Kukmin Ilbo President Jae-woon Byun; Dong-sup Lee, president of the Kukkiwon; Kyung-duk Kim, president of the Gyeong Gi-Do Taekwondo Association; Huh Jong, president of the GCS Korea Chapter; Myung-ho Seung, a board member of GCS International and chairman of the Hankook Ilbo daily; and Kwang-kyun Lee, a board member of GCS International.

The ceremony was followed by Taekwondo performances by the GCS Global Peace Corps Taekwondo Heroes Team and the WT Demonstration Team, drawing big applause from the participants.

U.S. House of Representatives Members Michelle Park Steel and Young Kim sent their respective congratulatory video messages for the 2021 DMZ Peace Festival.

“I hope the 2022 DMZ Peace Festival will be COVID-19 free and draw more than 10,000 people, as we saw at the inaugural 2019 DMZ event at the Imjingak Peace Nuri Park in Paju,” said Choue during his opening remarks. “I also hope that the Taekwondo Demonstration Team of the North Korea-led International Taekwondo Federation will perform at the 2022 DMZ World Festival.”

Taekwondo is the Highlight at 2019 GCS International Convention

Taekwondo took center stage at the 2019 GCS International Convention, which took place on Sept. 21, 2019 at Chosun University in Gwangju, Korea, where a GCS Global Peace Corps was inauguarated. The convention, which celebrates the 40th anniversary of the founding of Seoul-headquartered charity organization GCS International and the 38th U.N. International Day of Peace, drew approximately 2,200 people from about 20 countries.

Founded in 1979, GCS International is a Seoul-based UN-affiliated non-governmental organization headed by Chungwon Choue, who also leads World Taekwondo (WT). With three major spirits of goodwill, cooperation and service, it strives to promote a healthy society, better living, preservation of nature, restoration of human dignity and world peace.

GCS International was founded by WT President Choue’s late father, Young Seek Choue, who proposed the International Day of Peace and the International Year of Peace to the United Nations in 1981 and was unanimously approved by the U.N. General Assembly that year.

In 2016, GCS International signed a memorandum of understanding with WT and the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation to help empower the powerless in developing countries.

WT President Chungwon Choue; Hong Sung-geum, acting president of Chosun University; Lu Dezhi, vice chairman of the China Charity Alliance; WT Secretary General Hoss Rafaty; and WT Council

Member Kim Inseon attended.

At the 2019 GCS International Peace Seminar, Choue made a keynote speech, followed by presentations by Prof. Luc Reychler of Leuven University in Belgium.

After that, there was a ceremony to inaugurate the GCS Global Peace Corps, followed by a 15-minute joint Taekwondo demonstration by about 1,250 members of the GCS Global Taekwondo Peace Corps Korea.

In the afternoon, the 2019 GCS Peace Concert took place at the university’s Haeoreum Center in which a 37-member Korea Saxophone Harmony played classic and pop songs, followed by a 20-minute classic song performance by Korean Soprano Kim Jee-hyun and Tenor Lee Jeong-won.

The concert was followed by a 30-minute Taekwondo musical by members of the Chosun University Taekwondo Demonstration Team.

“‘Peace is More Precious than Triumph’ is the title of a book by Young Seek Choue, the founder of the GCS Movement, and the words are a precious lesson to all mankind,” Choue, the late academic’s son, said. “In this regard, the inauguration of the GCS Global Peace Corps on the occasion of the 2019 GCS International Convention is very meaningful and brightens the future of the GCS Movement.”

He expressed his wish for other sports beyond Taekwondo to join the GCS Global Peace Corps, which would ultimately help promote world peace.