World Children's Taekwondo UnionDemonstration Team Organization, Contribution to Global Promotion Taekwondo, practiced by more than 100 million people around the world, has already established itself as one of the most loved sports by people in the world beyond Korea. In fact, Taekwondo is the 'originator of the Korean Wave' that spreads the values ​​and national spirit of Korea to the world.

In addition to the Hallyu culture expressed in K-pop and movie dramas, Taekwondo (技), along with the Korean food culture (感) represented by kimchi and bibimbap, has now become the true triangle of Hallyu culture.

On the other hand, Taekwondo is a martial art and educational material for learning the spirits of perseverance, discipline, courtesy, self-control, and perseverance (百折不屈). In particular, from the perspective of parents, it is regarded as a global educational and cultural content. To understand in advance the importance of children's Taekwondo and the inherent educational and cultural value, and to persuade taekwondo figures from each country by actively utilizing the international taekwondo human network that he has built throughout his life, he established an international children's taekwondo organization and is a global leader in realizing the spirit of children's taekwondo. There is a person who built the platform.

“Park Soo-nam (74 years old), who has been with Taekwondo all his life.
World Children’s Taekwondo Union President’s Life Story” (www.worldctu.com)

President Park was born in Namhae, Gyeongsangnam-do, went to elementary, middle, and high school in Busan, went on to major in animal husbandry at Konkuk University, and became a Taekwondo instructor. At that time, he decided to coach the German Taekwondo team for only one year, but he chose to sow the seeds of Taekwondo in Europe.

Since then, he has served as technical director of 7 countries including Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Czechoslovakia, Belgium, Slovenia and Yugoslavia, as well as the president of the German and British Taekwondo Association. The German government awarded him the Iron Cross Medal of Merit for making Korean Taekwondo take root in Europe. Austria issued a commemorative stamp for President Park Soo-nam.

In 2001, US President Josh Bush personally presented the Sports (Contribution) Award. In particular, the only Germans of Korean descent who received a medal in Germany were the late Korean composer Lee Sang-yoon and President Park. In 2013, the Korean government also highly appreciated his achievements and reputation, and awarded him the National Order of Merit, the National Order of Merit, to him, a German national. President Park Soo-nam, who has such a brilliant career, has a unique philosophy in relation to the history of Taekwondo development. He has the concept that “Taekwondo, the national flag of Korea, is growing into a martial art in the early days, an Olympic sport in the development, and now as an educational, cultural, and sports content that the world can relate to”. have.

He emphasized that Taekwondo, a cultural asset handed down from ancestors, should not be allowed to stay in the elite sports field, but should focus on developing martial arts Taekwondo. He said, "The fact that Taekwondo has become an Olympic sport is an achievement in the field of competition," he said.

In this regard, he emphasizes that taekwondo training for children around the world is an indicator and direction for children's taekwondo to be developed in the future to have them combine intelligence, virtue, and body in terms of nurturing future talents through taekwondo training opportunities. In particular, he has an educational view that "skinship is essential to nurture children's personality and social skills". He emphasizes that Taekwondo, a cultural heritage of Korea, should create opportunities for children around the world to grow into healthy teenagers while communicating with their parents and forming bonds with friends.

President Park is devoting all his energy to the spread of Taekwondo for children under the age of 13 because he believes that Taekwondo training protects the health of the body and mind. He emphasized, "The older the children, the more their parents need to hug each other, but they are getting farther away.

In this regard, he advised that Korea consider children's Taekwondo as an important platform and pay more attention to education, culture, and physical education. President Park said, "Businessmen know that if they make a good product, they will succeed in the global market, but German and Korean cars are now at similar levels, but there is only one reason that German cars are expensive because of 'brand value'. It is decided at the level,” he said. In particular, it is his consistent view that Korea should expand its territory through Taekwondo, which communicates and empathizes with the world, transcending national boundaries, language (words) and movement barriers, transcending skin, race, and ideology.

As the saying goes, “Three-year-old habit goes at eighty”, it is that children of the global village who practiced Taekwondo as a child naturally develop interest and longing for Korea, the homeland of Taekwondo. Therefore, he pointed out that the vitalization of children's Taekwondo is also important to maintain and develop the status of Taekwondo master country forever. Specifically, with e-sports in mind as educational and cultural contents, it is necessary to develop and disseminate new educational and cultural contents that go beyond the training and competition methods of Taekwondo to meet the trends of the times.

While serving as national coach and president of major European countries, he has dedicated his life to nurturing juniors who train famous athletes and international sports leaders as a visiting professor at major foreign athletic colleges, including a chair professor at Youngsan University in Korea.

He advised that 'I want young people in Korea to live a 'life like themselves'. There are sayings like 'gold spoon, earth spoon' or 'sampo generation', but it is important to never compare yourself to others and to challenge the infinite global goal without giving up on your dreams in the present place."

President Park said, “Now, I will devote the rest of my life to systematizing ideological poomsae and internationalizing the World Children’s Taekwondo Unionas an educational, cultural, and sports NGO in name and reality.”

The last dream he wants to achieve is to register the World Children's Taekwondo Unionas a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) cooperative organization to systematically disseminate Korea's precious cultural heritage Taekwondo to the world and establish itself as a global educational, cultural, and sports content. will be.

In order to build the foundation for this, a domestic audition competition for the formation of the World Children's Taekwondo Demonstration Team is being jointly conceived with KBS in February next year. We are continuously consulting with domestic and foreign experts and companies for the development of contents for children's Taekwondo education and development of new ideas. This dream will surely come true.

“Just as a tiger leaves its hides when it dies, perhaps he is eager to leave a brand (value) of the ‘World Children’s Taekwondo Union’ to Taekwondo students forever.”

New York, USA= Kim Deokhui, staff reporter  ajtwoddlejrg@nvp.co.kr