Kukkiwon, the headquarters for Korea’s national sport, Taekwondo, is actively working to establish overseas branch offices that bring together 200 million Taekwondo practitioners around the world.

Kukkiwon is going abroad, meeting with the heads of foreign Taekwondo associations, Korean grandmasters and Taekwondo officials and, is actively working to establish overseas branch offices. Kukkiwon also requested foreign Taekwondo officials for their close cooperation in enhancing the value of poom and dan.

The main purpose of establishing overseas offices is to further globalize Taekwondo around the world.

Kukkiwon oversees Taekwondo academies around the world and general affairs related to Taekwondo but has not yet been able to communicate effectively with Taekwondo-related organizations around the world. Also, in some places, dan certificates were issued to trainees not by Kukkiwon but by grandmasters who have been teaching in those places for a long time and these cases raised concerns about the identity of Korea’s martial art, Taekwondo.

Since becoming the 17th President of Kukkiwon in October, President Dong-sup Lee has been actively working to establish overseas branches offices in some 200 countries around the world.

From December 9 to 10, President Lee visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia where the 2022 World Taekwondo Grand Prix Finals were held and met with Secretary General Balla Dieye to the African Taekwondo Union to discuss the details for establishing national Taekwondo association offices.

And on December 11, President Lee presented an honorary 7th dan to Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal, who is also the President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee, and was promised full cooperation in developing Taekwondo. President also met with Taekwondo officials from 5 Middle Eastern countries and asked for their close cooperation.

Earlier this year, from November 14 to 20, President Lee visited Guadalajara, Mexico where the 2022 World Taekwondo Championships were held and met with Taekwondo officials from 7 South American countries including Mexican Taekwondo Federation President González Pinedo, Brazilian Taekwondo Confederation President Alberto Maciel Junior and the heads of Taekwondo associations in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, El Salavador and Cuba.

“I was truly moved by President Lee’s passion and dedication to unite Taekwondo around the world. I will give my full support to establish the prestige of Taekwondo” said Grandmaster Moon Dai-won (Mexico).

Not only that, President Lee visited the academies of Grandmaster Moon Dai-won in Mexico and Grandmaster Kim Jeong-woon in Saudi Arabia, watched the dan promotion tests and encouraged instructors working hard to spread and promote Taekwondo around the world. President Lee also met and had heart-to-heart conversations with local trainees to get to know their honest opinions and experiences as the head of the World Taekwondo Headquarters.

Kukkiwon has signed basic agreements for installing branch offices with 18 national Taekwondo associations around the world and is currently discussing it with some 50 countries around the world. Kukkiwon’s plan is to sign MOUs with more than 200 countries around the world by 2023.

“We were able to visit these countries and explain in detail about the purpose, necessity and process of establishing overseas branch offices which were met with positive responses. Based on the problems and concerns national Taekwondo associations are dealing with as well as their opinions, we are going to plan and carry out Taekwondo promotion projects that are tailored to each country and their circumstances” explained President Dong-sup Lee.