Spell – magical formulas, expressions of mysterious meaning, addressed to supernatural forces. It is an energetic influence on a person in order to suppress his will and obey another.
General Choi created Taekwon-Do and began its distribution as a martial art in the literal sense – training of soldiers in the Korean Army. He subsequently established the International Taekwon-do Federation (ITF) to distribute Taekwon-Do around the world. It started hard and slow, but in 1980 he found a way to make a political agreement with North Korea. Kim Il Sung “shakes his hand” with the General, providing the ITF with an office in Vienna and athletic international instructors.
Since then, ITF and Taekwon-Do of Gen. Choi gained popularity as North Korean Taekwon-Do, but the popularity was enormous, and soon the ITF became a “real” international organization with a huge number of members from all continents. This is how the political confrontation with South Korea and the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) arose. Members of the organization are constantly “convinced” that ITF Taekwon-Do is the ultimate martial art that is modern and promising, North Korean international instructors are “the best of the best” and Gen. Choi was raised in a cult.
Thus, over time, the three letters “ITF” become a spell… spell with scary, destructive power… spell that outlived its founder!
This was evident after the death of the General in 2002. Left without their “high priest,” a number of self-proclaimed shamans have created three new international organizations called the ITF. All of them convincingly claimed that they were direct descendants of the general – one in line at a democratic congress, others in the political line of the party, and the third in genetic. Along with them, a dozen other international organizations arose with a combination in their name of magic spell with definitions such as: “Original“, “Classic“, “Traditional“, “United“, etc. The three direct heirs for years sued for “who is a more direct heir” and finally condemned each other.
During this time, the destructive power of the spell worked continuously. Many of the small organizations disappeared, and a huge membership left the “direct heirs“, looking for an alternative. Led by the three-letter spell, the search for taekwonders “stuck” in the search. But why?
It’s just been a long time since the age of the General, and things in the world around us have changed beyond recognition.
Taekwon-Do, as a modern martial art, gave way to the MMA invasion. The reasons are many, the main one is not the destructive power of the “spell“, but the lack of update in Taekwon-Do. It turned out to be frozen in the 80s with a methodology suitable for the army and tournament rules requiring mastery and clean techniques to achieve victory by points. This requires practitioners to have long experience and dedication in training, characteristics that are now seen as negative. That’s why MMA attracts those who want to engage in martial arts – with the promise to quickly learn to fight…
In recent years, Taekwon-Do practitioners have mostly been children. They’re not soldiers, they’re looking for fun and they want black belts. The General’s Taekwon-Do doesn’t offer them…
A “vacuum” arises for innovation in Taekwon-Do and they are not late. We see them in different forms in different organizations. There are black belts for children, games for the youngest, interactive 3D guides for instructors, new tournament rules, new disciplines, new methodologies, etc. It is more interesting that recently there has been a movement away from the “three-letter spell of the General”.
In an interview from November 1999, General Choi Hong Hi said:
“ As I said, my research ended in the mid 80’s, & I will make no more advances in my lifetime, the legacy of the development of TAEKWON-DO for the future remains with the Masters of the Art from now on. I have entrusted the development to them.“
The famous Grand Master Kwang Sung, who holds the cult certificate with the number K-9-1, after the death of the General in 2002, remains to work with ITF-NK (North Korea). Living many years in the United States, this experiment did not last long. He split form ITF-NK in 2004, but still subject to the “spell” he created the Unified International Taekwon-do Federation – again the three letters, but “united“. Initially, “magic” worked, but without innovation in Taekwon-Do, initial success turns into failure. And here the grandmaster decided to shake off the “spell” – he renamed the organization Unified Taekwon-do. It offers Taekwon-Do in its authentic form, but focuses on innovation and is interested in the needs of its members. Apparently, the new scheme is working – Kwang Sung is back in the game.
Grand Master James Lim is a leading figure in the history of Taekwon-Do and an inspiration to all who love art. In 1984, GM Lim was appointed Director of the ITF and in 1989 became Chairman of the ITF Technical Committee. Driven by the General’s words, as early as the late 1990s, he introduced Advanced Taekwon-Do as the next level of Taekwon-Do, where techniques were refined, modernized, and expanded. Advance Taekwon-Do adheres to the traditional forms and techniques of the Chang-Hon style, but concentrates on “Do” and self-defense instead of sporting events, without politics and mysticism. It includes a number of innovations, methodology for working with children and international certification. It is suitable for practicing by people of all ages.
Advanced Taekwon-Do is distributed by Advanced Taekwon-do Europe.
The destructive power of the “three-letter spell of the General” is significantly weakened, and most importantly, there are clear alternatives to all seekers. These alternatives are real, they do not contain the three letters and offer updated Taekwon-Do that is available to everyone.