KTA and changed the name back to the Korea Taekwondo Association. In
1966, KASA began the development of a training center for international
competition, hoping to emulate the success of the Tokyo Olympics of 1964.
General Choi founded the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) in
1966 with an eye to supporting the spread of taekwondo around the world.
Taekwondo continued to gain in importance in Korea in the 1970s.
Construction of the Kukkiwon, the Seoul headquarters of taekwondo, be-
gan on November 19, 1971, and the building was inaugurated on Novem-
ber 30, 1972. On February 14, 1972, taekwondo became a part of the of-
ficial curriculum of Korea’s primary schools. It entered the middle school
curricula on August 31 and on December 5, the National High School and
Middle School Taekwondo Federation was established, followed by the
National Collegiate Taekwondo Federation on December 28, 1972.
In 1971, due to increasing tension with President Park, General Choi
began to make secret plans to leave Korea and move the ITF to Canada.
The KTA did not want the headquarters of taekwondo to move outside of
the ROK and severed ties with the ITF, forming a new international or-
ganization, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Ironically, both Gen-
eral Choi and his old rival Hwang Ki left the Republic of Korea in 1974.
Choi went to Canada to spread taekwondo, while Hwang went to the
United States where he continued to teach tangsudô.
The WTF was officially founded during the first World Taekwondo
Championships held at the Kukkiwon in 1973. The WTF continued to sup-
port international competition in taekwondo. In 1988, taekwondo became
a demonstration sport at the Seoul Olympics, and in 2000, taekwondo be-
came an official Olympic sport.
Choi Hong-Hi began teaching taekwondo in North Korea in the
1980s, and the ROK National Intelligence Service has therefore declared
that the ITF “is nothing but an unauthorized organization” and that “it is
a private organization operated under Northern support rather than a gen-
uine sports organization and has been utilized as a means of expanding
Northern influence overseas.” The dispute between the ITF and WTF re-
mains unresolved.
Dakin R. BurdickSee alsoKorean Martial Arts, Chinese Influences on; Swordsmanship,
Korean/Hankuk Haedong Kumdô; T’aek’kyo ̆n; Taekwondo
References
Burdick, Dakin. 1997. “People and Events of Taekwondo’s Formative
Years.” Journal of Asian Martial Arts6, no. 1: 30–49.
Choi Hong Hi. 1965. Taekwon-Do: The Art of Self-Defence. Seoul: Daeha
Publication Company.
———. 1993. Taekwon-Do: The Korean Art of Self-Defence. Mississauga,
Ontario: International Taekwon-Do Federation. 15 vol.298 Korea