History: Taekwondo Today

Upon liberation of Korea from the Japanese colonial rule after World War II, the Korean people began recovering the thought of self-reliance and the traditional folkloric games resumed their popularity. Song Duk-Ki, afore-mentioned master of taekkyondo, presented a demonstration of the martial art before the first Republic of Korea President Syngman Rhee on the occasion of the latter's birthday, thus clearly distinguishing Tae Kwon Do from the Japanese Karate which had been introduced by the Japanese rulers.

Martial art experts began opening their Tae Kwon Do gymnasiums all over the country and, after the end of Korean War (1950~1953), Tae Kwon Do was popularized among the Dan-grade black-belts within the country, also dispatching about 2,000 Tae Kwon Do masters to more than 100 countries for foreigners' training.

Following the nomination of Tae Kwon Do as a national martial art in 1971, the present Kukkiwon was founded in 1972 to be used as the central gymnasium as well as the site of various Tae Kwon Do competitions. A year later, on May 28, 1973, the World Tae Kwon Do Federation came into existence, and has grown in membership to 108 countries.

In 1973 the biennial World Tae Kwon Do Championships was organized, and in 1974, Tae Kwon Do was admitted to the Asian Games as an official event.

In 1975 Tae Kwon Do was accepted as an official sport by the U.S.Amateur Athletes Union (AAU) and also admitted to the General Association of international Sports Federations (GAISF), followed by the adoption of official sports event by the International Council of Military Sports (CISM) in 1976. In 1979 President of the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF) was elected chairman of the World Federation of Non-Olympic Sports. The WTF became an IOC-recognized sports federation in 1980, making Tae Kwon Do an Olympic sport. Then the adoption of Tae Kwon Do as an official event was followed by the World Games in 1981, the Pan-American Games in 1986, and finally by the 2000 Olympiad to be held in Australia.

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