Kukkiwon Gangster

A gangster in front of the Kukkiwon

I've been living in Korea for nearly five years now and never really made any serious effort to visit the Kukkiwon. The main reason is probably because I'm chiefly an ITF Taekwon-Do practitioner and the Kukkiwon is the WTF taekwondo Mecca. While ITF Taekwon-Do and WTF Taekwon-Do are related, they styles are significantly different that for me to visit the Kukkiwon would have had no direct benefit, other than for interests sake. I therefore had no reason to visit the Kukkiwon before. The first time I came to Korea I actually lived quite near to the Kukkiwon and although I lived in the area for about a year and a half and was even curious about going thereon occasion, I just never got around to it. This changed recently.

The Taekwondo Hall of Fame Ceremony was held at the Kukkiwon last month, so I ended up going there at long last. I would probably not have gone was it not for the fact that Master Kim Hoon, the head of the ITF dojang ('The Way' Martial Art Academy of Seoul) that I am a part of, was going to receive a citation from the Taekwondo Hall of Fame, so I was eager to support him. That's how I ended up visiting the Kukkiwon at last.

Yip, that's me in front of the Kukkiwon trying to look like a gangster. Let me know if I succeeded. My attempt at looking like a gangster is quite on purpose and tongue in cheek. If you know the real history of Taekwon-Do you will likely catch the joke.