Federations: ITF vs. WTF

As said before, Gen. Choi established ITF-Taekwondo (more traditional) while WTF-Taekwondo (more emphasis on sparring) made it to the olympics. A goodwill trip to North-Korea in 1966 caused General Choi to fall in disgrace in the eyes of the South-Koreans. Choi resigned as president of the K.T.A. and founded the I.T.F. on March, the 22nd of that same year. Headquarters were established in Canada in 1972 and later relocated to Vienna, Austria in 1985.

ITF started concentrating on the forms developed by General Choi, while the KTA (became the WTF on May 28, 1973) concentrated on the Palgwe's. Later the WTF abbandoned the Palgwe's and started concentrating on TaeGuks. Slowly, the WTF emphasis turned to sparring. This is also the reason why a lot of people rather call (WTF) TaeKwonDo a sport than a Martial Art.

ITF practises the semi-contact part of TaeKwon-do, while WTF practises the full-contact part. ITF also focuses more on the traditional way. Since the break-up, there have been many attempts to reunite WTF and ITF, so far without success. There probably will never be a union within Taekwondo.

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