Korea Taekwondo Association
Korea Taekwondo Association, originally the Korea Tae Soo Do Association, is the first taekwondo organisation. It was founded in 1961, and in 1963 it received approval to join the Korean Sports Council.
The Kukkiwon and World Taekwondo were established by the KTA in the early and late 1970s, respectively. Today, the KTA is aligned with Kukkiwon and serves as the Member National Association of World Taekwondo. Its mission is to promote taekwondo as a national sport within South Korea.
History
The history of the KTA has been marked by political challenges, including those associated with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950.First attempts
The process of unifying the various Korean martial arts schools, or kwan, was long and complex. Following the Korean independence movement of 1945, many leading masters of the main kwan began discussing the unification of Korean martial arts, which had been severely suppressed during the Japanese occupation. Their aim was to revive traditional Korean martial arts by consolidating them into a single and cohesive discipline.An initial attempt to harmonize the different styles practiced within the various kwan took place in July 1946, when several masters, including Byung Jick Ro, Sang Sup Chun, Won Kyo Lee, and Byung In Yoon, agreed to standardize the teaching methods of the martial arts practiced in their respective schools. The outbreak of the Korean War interrupted this process, leading to the dispersal of many masters across different regions of the country. Some of them took refuge in Pusan, where they established the Korean Kongsoodo Federation, an initiative regarded as the first concrete attempt to unify Korean martial arts.
Towards the creation of the KTA
Several years after the end of the Korean War, leading representatives of the kwan resumed efforts toward unification. Between 1959 and 1961, multiple organizations were formed with this objective. Among these, a group composed primarily of members of the Chung Do Kwan and led by General Choi Hong Hi gained prominence, alongside the Unified Consolidation Committee, established in September 1961.The group led by Choi Hong Hi also established an organization called the Korea Taekwondo Association; however, it was entirely unrelated to the current Korea Taekwondo Association, which was founded by the Unified Consolidation Committee under the name Korea Taesoodo Association. The position of president of the KTA initially remained vacant, while Un Kyu Uhm and Chong Woo Lee were appointed vice presidents. In June 1962, the association was admitted as a member of the Korean Olympic Committee, and later that year Myung Shin Chae assumed office as the first president of the KTA.
In 1965, the Korean Taesoodo Association was officially renamed the Korea Taekwondo Association. The change occurred during the term of Choi Hong Hi, who had by then joined the association, and marked the return to the official use of the term taekwondo, which had been coined in 1955.
During the 1960s, the KTA assembled the twelve original masters of taekwondo to promote taekwondo throughout the world.
The establishment of the Kukkiwon
In January 1967, following the end of Byung Jick Ro’s term, the presidency of the KTA passed to Yong Chae Kim, a prominent figure within the ruling political party at the time. Kim initiated plans for the creation of a central training hall dedicated to taekwondo. He succeeded in securing approximately 28 million won — equivalent to about US$30,000 at the time — from state funds for the construction of what was referred to as the Central Dojang.After the appointment of Un Yong Kim as the seventh president of the KTA in January 1971, the Central Dojang project took definitive shape. The plan called for the construction of a building covering more than 4,000 square metres. The proposed site was located on the plateau of Yeoksam-dong, then an undeveloped area, with the intention of creating a structure that would serve as a symbol of strength and national identity overlooking the city. Construction of the main building began on 19 November 1971 and was completed on 30 November 1972.
End of the XX century
Un Yong Kim held the presidency of both the KTA and the Kukkiwon for more than 20 years. During his tenure, he played a central role in the establishment of World Taekwondo. While his leadership has been criticized in later years for its authoritarian aspects, he provided two decades of organizational stability.From 2000 to the Present
The early 2000s were a time of trouble for the KTA leadership. One source states that Un Yong Kim resigned from the KTA presidency in 2001, while other sources state that in 1997, Pil Gon Rhee was already in place as President of the KTA. In any case, Kim presided over the organisation for around 20 years. In March 2002, Cheon Seo Koo was elected President of the KTA, and held that position until at least 2004, though news sources have reported that he was arrested in late 2003.In early 2008, Jung Gil Kim was President of the KTA. On 11 June 2008, Joon Pyo Hong was elected as the 24th President of the KTA, and he continued in the position in 2009.
List of Presidents
Since the foundation of the KTA, 29 presidents have served in office. The current president is Jin Bang Yang.Rank promotions
The first official KTA dan promotion test was held on 11 November 1962, inaugurating a schedule of six examination sessions per year. Following the opening of the Kukkiwon in 1972, the administration of rank examinations was transferred to the new institution. In 1980, the KTA also delegated the issuance of Dan and Poom certificates to the Kukkiwon, a decision that took effect on 1 March 1980. In July 1984, the issuance of Dan certificates for non-Korean practitioners was temporarily delegated to the World Taekwondo, resulting in a period during which certificates were issued by two separate organizations. By the end of 1987, it was determined that the Kukkiwon would become the sole authority responsible for issuing ranks, effective 1 January 1988.
To ensure uniformity in examinations, regulations were introduced to reinforce the central role of the Kukkiwon in evaluation procedures at both national and international levels.