Chapter 20: International Taekwondo Federation

North Korea is a member of the original International Taekwondo Federation and South Korea is a member of the World Taekwondo Federation, founded 7 years after the ITF was founded. The unification of Taekwondo would motivate various groups to work for the unification of peninsula. Taekwondo instructors in Korea do not have the same freedom of voice that the overseas instructors do. Therefore, overseas Taekwondo instructors will probably play a bigger role and serve as a bridge between South and North Korea. To open the door between the two sides, overseas instructors should visit and attend seminars, demonstrations, and championships of both Federations. Frequent contact between instructors of the two groups would eliminate mistrust. Creating this type of environment would be a very important step for the Reunification of Korea. 

With Choi out of the South Korea, rival martial arts academies organized an international rival to the ITF, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). The WTF is discussed in the next section.

As evidence of the almost total loss of influence of Choi in Korea, the book Olympic Politics, states that, during the September 30, 1981 vote by the IOC to decide on Seoul for the 1988 Olympics, Kim Un-Yong dealt with the rumor that Choi, then living in Canada, would stage an anti-Seoul demonstration. Kim did not believe the rumor, but he put five Taekwondo instructors on standby in case of trouble; however, nothing happened.

In October 1982, General Choi met with Mr. Csandi, Chairman of the Programming Committee of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), in Budapest, Hungary, to discuss IOC recognition of the ITF. In April 1984, Choi visited Mr. Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee, in Lausanne, to prove to him that the ITF was the only governing body of true Taekwondo.