A reporting conference to reboot Taekwondo, the original “Korean Wave”, will be held.

Kukkiwon announced that it will be co-hosting a meaningful event for “Rebooting Taekwondo, the Original Hallyu” with MBN and The Maeil Business Newspaper on November 23 at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, Seoul. This event will be held as part of the reporting conference MBN holds every year celebrating its anniversary and for this year which marks the 29th anniversary of the Korean TV network, the theme has been set to Taekwondo which basically started the whole hallyu or the Korean Wave phenomenon.

The MBN Reporting Conference first started in 2017 as a project aimed at introducing social leaders and renowned figures’ ideas on a new path for individuals, corporations, national prosperity and future visions to ultimately leave a healthier Korean society to future generations. Serious discussions were had on “Upskilling Korea and the Future of Jos” in 2017 and on “Super AI is Coming” in 2020. Last year, the conference was about “Opening the Age of Limitless Quantum Computers”.

The keyword for this year’s reporting conference which will be attended by some 200 opinion leaders from the government, local governments and corporations, is Taekwondo which is the originator of hallyu or the Korean Wave.

On March 25, around 20,000 Taekwondo practitioners demonstrating Taegeuk Il Jang in perfect harmony at the Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul where the 2023 Kukki Taekwondo Hanmaeum Grand Festival was being held, really proved again that Korea is the birthplace of Taekwondo. Kukkiwon, MBN and the Research Institute for Cultural Territory jointly carried out “Research on Improving Korea’s Soft Power through Taekwondo”. Director Park Jong-beom of the Taekwondo Research Institute of Kukkiwon and Professor Hong Sung-gul of Kookmin University (Department of Public Administration) co-managed this project. Also, Profession Kim Jung-woo of Korea University (Department of Cultural Content) carried out research on “The Definition of Hallyu and its Developmental Stages” and “The Growth Engines for Hallyu’s Sustainable Development” and, Professor Kim Na-hye of Shinhan University (Department of Taekwondo Education) carried out research on the “Globalization of Taekwondo and Its Current State” and “The Economic, Social, and Cultural Values of and Tasks for Taekwondo”.

Also, Senior Researcher Nam Sang-seok, Researcher Lee Mi-yeon and Academic Secretary Park Ji-hyun at the Taekwondo Research Institute of Kukkiwon distributed a survey in 11 most used languages in 105 nations where Taekwondo has been introduced to, collected opinions of a total of 752 respondents and analyzed the changes among Taekwondo trainees, whether the interest in Korea has increased and various cultural elements.

The research results show that the four elements - △ martial art and self-defense △ training and education for all age groups including youth △ competition sport △ total entertainment - have contributed to the development and globalization of Taekwondo and that these elements go hand in hand with each other. Also, the research results showed Taekwondo is cultural content that will increase Korea’s national brand value and drive Korea’s political, economic, social and cultural development.

“Taekwondo’s unique values and effects are globally recognized as they are but Taekwondo which is the originator of the Korean Wave phenomenon, also plays a significant role in promoting Korean culture across the world. We need to think deeply about the role of Taekwondo as a cultural platform of Korea and how we could support the martial art.” said Kukkiwon President Lee Dong-sup.