Kukkiwon is Publishes “50-Year History of Kukkiwon” Celebrating Its 50th Anniversary

10 Years Since the Publishing of “40-Year History of Kukkiwon” … “50-Year History of Kukkiwon” to Highlight Half-Century Journey of Kukkiwon and the Globalization of Taekwondo

Kukkiwon is publishing “50-Year History of Kukkiwon” on November 30, celebrating its 50th anniversary.

To highlight Kukkiwon’s 50-year history since its establishment in 1972 to 2022 and, to prepare the next 50 years of the organization, Kukkiwon has worked on the book for about a year since 2021.

“50-Year History of Kukkiwon” is a 824-page, modified A4-sized (210×270) English and Korean bilingual book that is divided into 4 parts - △Photo Records △History △Special Content and △Data.

The Photo Records part offers photos of activities Kukkiwon has carried out since the 1970s to 2020s.

For the History part, Kukkiwon did not simply list its key activities over the past 10 years since 2012 but constantly reviewed and improved the contents of the part to truly capture the essence of Kukkiwon’s journey.

The Special Content covers Kukkiwon’s identity, efforts put in to develop Korea’s national martial art Taekwondo as a cultural content and how 9 kwans have been unified.

Lastly, the Data part includes stats on poom and dan holders since 2012, stats on education and training at World Taekwondo Academy, historical data on the World Taekwondo Hanmadang, current status of Taekwondo instructors sent abroad and data published by Kukkiwon Research Institute of Taekwondo.

It a historical compilation that commemorates the half-century journey of Kukkiwon which has served as the mecca for the global Taekwondo community but it doesn’t solely focus on Kukkiwon’s history but sheds light on Taekwondo’s core philosophy, techniques as well as on the history and roles of Taekwondo Textbook.

Unlike the “40-Year History of Kukkiwon” published in 2012, the “50-Year History of Kukkiwon” goes into more detail on the unification of kwans in 1978 and the process of legalizing Taekwondo as Korea’s national martial art in 2018 which have been great turning points in the history of Taekwondo.

“It is truly an honor to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kukkiwon and to publish the “50-Year History of Kukkiwon”. This special book will allow us to look back on the 50-year history of Kukkiwon with our elder leaders and instructors of Taekwondo and to think about the new direction of our journey ahead” said Kukkiwon President Dong-sup Lee.

“50-Year History of Kukkiwon” is not for sale and it will be distributed to Taekwondo organizations and sports organizations at home and abroad. The electronic version can be accessed at the Kukkiwon website (www.kukkiwon.or.kr).