Just the other day on June 15th we solemnly celebrated the principal founder of Taekwon-Do (1955), the founder of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association (1959), the President of the Korean TaeSooDo Association (1965)the founder of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (1966) and the International Martial Arts Games Commission (1999) 20th anniversary of his death in Pyongyang, North Korea.
He was generally referred to as “General Choi,” but he was also the first South Korean Ambassador to Malaysia which was the first nation outside of Korea to be introduced to Taekwon-Do and why they have always had a strong Taekwon-Do footprint. Recently, we lost another Taekwon-Do proponent from Malaysia just the other day as well! Sabree Salleh passed on the 14th of June, just a day before the 20th anniversary of one of his instructors Gen. Choi.
Also of note in April, we lost the only American to be promoted to 9th Dan Grandmaster Charles “Chuck” Sereff by General Choi on the 18th of April 2022. So, far 2022 hasn’t been kind to the ITF community.
But, what has he gained since the death of General Choi? Sadly, we gained three main offshoots of his beloved International Taekwon-Do Federation® and dozens of other ITF offshoots. Each group has its own rules and regulations, and each has its interpretations of how the patterns (Tuls) are performed, with the oddest addition actually by Gen. Choi’s son, by adding “ki-aps” into the patterns, which were never part of the patterns under his father, at least not since 1966 until his death. Many instructors and other groups who were loosely affiliated to the ITF or broke from the ITF early have, but not the ITF, as Gen. Choi considered ki-as a “karate hold over.”
Sadly, the ITF showed signs of breaking up before his death, the last three years while Gen. Choi was alive, many people knew he was ill. He clearly showed some physical signs of deterioration. Gen. Choi led a hard life until he left South Korea and sought asylum in Canada in 1972. Gen. Choi smoked and drank as was the custom for men of power in South Korea (and Asia as a whole). He did tamper those habits down as he aged, as do most people!
But, when he died, the ITF world which was already splintering into two groups, split into three. And those who were one now had to choose sides. And basically, that was generally with your instructors and their affiliations. Within about three years, that split further. And as previously stated, many more ITF offshoots since.
Here in the USA, there were two main ITF organizations before Gen. Choi’s passing. The United States Taekwon-Do Federation® (USTF) headed by Grandmaster Chuck Sereff A-9-1 and the KoreAmerica Taekwon-Do Union™ (KATU) were founded by Grandmaster Cho, Dae-sung but in 2002 it was headed by Grandmaster Hwang, Kwang-sung K-9-1. Upon Gen. Choi’s death, the USTF didn’t support any of the ITF groups, although courted by all. GM Sereff being senior to all the other group’s leaders wasn’t going to turn the reigns of his USTF over to a junior group of ITF leaders. GM Hwang for just over two years aligned with the North Korean group until he split and founded the Unified International Taekwon-Do Federation™ and now known as Unified Taekwon-Do.
After 20 years, it’s clear the ITF we had when General Choi was alive is gone, and will never return. We have had a generation of Taekwon-Do practitioners who never met Gen. Choi and only know of him from their instructors and organizations mostly revisionist history. They don’t know what Taekwon-Do was like when he was alive. While it changed during Gen> Choi’s lifetime, he was constantly redefining movements, but mostly terminology, today’s groups are worried more about being different than the others, and at the same time claiming they are the “original” or “best” or whatever term they use.
For a couple of years, I was worried about what group, and which ITF to follow. We were the first USA group to support the claim of the son of Gen. Choi, then Master Choi, Jung-Hwa, and his ITF offshoot, INO #16. But, as time went on, and of course, other INOs joined, we felt that we couldn’t grow by being confined to a single group. They also, wouldn’t allow other or previous affiliations, and when they changed leadership several times over, we decided our membership money was best used elsewhere, and we have been better for it.
So, again, what has been gained? Sadly, nothing more than egos, money, and power. One group has securely sought the power and with that, the purse strings that support a “pariah nation” and others have been adding to or taken away. I will say the most positive thing is there are more and more groups promoting the Taekwon-Do as Gen. Choi promoted it, even with their changes, and that is much better than it dying out and being forgotten as a whole!
