The North Korean Taekwondo team revealed…
Demonstration performance at the ITF World Championships
Ri Yong-sun, President of the ITF, “We have gathered for peace and friendship.”
North Korean Taekwondo
After three years and seven months, North Korean taekwondo players
who drew attention by crossing the border by land appeared. 안전놀이터
The North Korean taekwondo demonstration team performed a taekwondo demonstration for about an hour at the opening ceremony of the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF)
World Championships held in Istana, Kazakhstan on the 19th (Korean time).
Ri Yong-sun
ITF president Ri Yong-sun of North Korea, who visited Kazakhstan with the athletes, thanked the organizing committee and said,
“We have gathered for peace and friendship.
There are no losers in us.
We are all champions.”
World Taekwondo Federation
Afterwards, the North Korean Taekwondo Demonstration Team, a mixed group of about 10 people, demonstrated the ‘frame’
corresponding to the ‘Poomsae’ of World Taekwondo Federation (WT) Taekwondo, breaking the pine board, and actual fighting demonstrations.
In addition to demonstrations of power breaking, such as a show of force, demonstrations of self-defense techniques were also shown.
North Korean taekwondo players are scheduled to participate in weight class competitions starting on the 20th.
Athlete of North Korea
On the 16th, North Korean athletes are known to have traveled
by bus to China via the Yalu River Railroad Bridge connecting Sinuiju, North Korea, and Dandong, Liaoning Province, China, and then entered Kazakhstan by air.
It was the first time in three years and seven months that a large number of North Koreans crossed the border by land, and it received great attention from domestic and foreign press.
North Korea did not appear in international competitions in the aftermath of the spread of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19),
last Asian Football Confederation Under-23 Championship in January 2020.
Two male athletes were sent to the karate championships.
North Korea is also scheduled to participate in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, which will open on the 23rd of next month.
International Taekwondo Federation
ITF Taekwondo is different from Taekwondo led by the WT, which is an official Olympic event.
ITF Taekwondo was founded in March 1966 in Seoul, led by the late Hong-Hee Choi, a former army major, and later,
Hong-Hee Choi, the first president, fled to Canada due to a conflict with the South Korean government, and built a relationship with North Korea.
In Korea, the WTF, the predecessor of the World Taekwondo Federation (WT), was founded in 1973, and the late Kim Un-yong,
then president of the Korea Taekwondo Association and former vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC),
served as the first president and developed taekwondo into an Olympic sport.
There is an ITF-affiliated Taekwondo Association in Korea, but no athletes were dispatched to the World Championships in Kazakhstan.
