Today marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of Children's Day as an official holiday.

Children are  very important asset and pillars of the future. They are truly the cornerstone and mirror of our future, taking responsibility for our country's future.

Just as the balance of the house is corrected only when the same amount is well set, they are the protagonists of future generations who determine the fate of the country.

In Korea, the Children's Charter was declared in 1957 to improve children's rights and interests, and since 1975, May 5, Children's Day, has been designated and celebrated as a public holiday.

It is a day designated to encourage children to grow up correctly, wisely, and courageously, and to promote their love for children.

To this end, it is a day to provide an opportunity for children to grow up in warm love, and to encourage and comfort underprivileged children so that they can have pride and confidence without being intimidated.

Since children are the protagonists of future generations, what is required is largely summarized into three categories: intelligence, virtue, and body. It is so-called knowledge cultivation, correct moral education, and strong physical strength.

However, moral education is at the center of the most fundamental of these three.

The spirit of Taekwondo is 'loyalty, filial piety, and moral.
This national taekwondo spirit is considered to be an optimal virtue even when applied to children's ethics and social education departments.

In particular, the "indomitable spirit" of  Taekwondo is known to contribute to cultivating a growth mindset and a spirit of challenge for children.

Children who have a growth mindset that results from positive thinking do not feel ashamed when they fall and walk again. For them, mistakes or plight become the foothold for growth and lead to a spirit of challenge, eventually giving them dreams and hopes. In particular, this mindset determines the success or failure of the individual as well as the organization, and furthermore, the fate of the country.

There is a saying that "The habit of three years old goes all the way to eighty." It means that you have a habit that occurred at the age of three even when you were eighty, and it means that a habit you once learned as a child is hard to cure.

Accordingly, children's education is in line with the forest development project. It is that continuous interest and consideration must be accompanied.

Depending on the age and condition of the forest, artificial work such as pruning, young trees, thinning, and natural forest cultivation must be accompanied by the project to cultivate and grow forests so that they can grow healthy and superior. From this point of view, it contains indicators of children's education, timeliness, and direction.

"If you don't go when you have to go, you can't go when you're going." This is the part from the movie "Among the Fastest Indians in the World".

Everyone goes through their childhood. In this era of growth, there is a desperate need for the right intellectual, virtuous, and physical education in time.

Only when each tree comes together to form a forest and various trees (coniferous and broad-leaved trees) gather together to form a healthy and harmonious forest despite forest fire damage.

The bust of Sapporo University President William Smith Clark, who was the one who established advanced agricultural technology in Hokkaido, reads "Boys, be ambitious!"

"Boys (girls), be ambitious!"

"Not for money or selfishness, not for the fleeting things that people call fame. Just for the ambition of pursuing everything that a man should have value ."

For Children's Day, we hope that our children will complete the unfinished works that our seniors and ancestors have not achieved in the future generations by "developing their talents" in the spirit of national flag Taekwondo for their own worth of ambitions.

Rhee Sang-gi, President of the World Children Taekwondo Union