All about Taekwondo’s Humanitarian Initiatives

Doing the right thing, all around the world

Taekwondo Peace Corps

WT launched the Taekwondo Peace Corps (TPC) in 2008 to share the spirit of Taekwondo and to demonstrate that sport can contribute to promoting world peace and communication as well as to education and sustainable social development.

The TPC, under the theme of “World Peace through the Great Taekwondo Spirit,” was the first global peace movement to appear from the Taekwondo community.

Shortly after taking the helm of WT in June 2004, WT President Chungwon Choue promised to launch the Taekwondo Peace Corps, thus helping enhance the image of the sport and WT in the international sports community.

Introduction

Taekwondo teaches the virtues of self-reflection, self-discipline, self-control, confidence, respect, patience, and balance of body and mind. These virtues help make people feel peaceful, synchronize their minds with the movements, and extend this harmony into life and society.

In the sense that Taekwondo ultimately pursues peace among humankind and harmony between humanity and nature, it shares its essence with the fundamental principles of the United Nations (U.N.) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

As Taekwondo is an effective educational tool for young people around the world, World Taekwondo (WT; formerly the World Taekwondo Federation, or WTF) has actively sought ways to share the value and philosophy of Taekwondo through goodwill activities. Starting in 2008, WT started to think in earnest about its social responsibility as an Olympic sport federation.

The TPC idea was first raised by Choue at an international workshop on sports and peace in Leuven, Belgium on Sept. 21, 2007 and then at an international forum on peace and sport in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Dec. 6, 2007.

On the first TPC mission, seven teams were dispatched on July 5, 2008 for about one to two months to five countries - Russia, India, Pakistan, Paraguay, and China - in July and August 2008. Each team consisted of four people, mostly university students – three Taekwondo practitioners with at least 3rd Kukkiwon Dan (black belt), and one with proficient language skills.

The TPC was expanded into the World Taekwondo Peace Corps Foundation in 2009, which has so far dispatched over 2,500 volunteers to 123 countries on 24 occasions.

As part of efforts to further promote world peace, Choue strongly hopes the WT-initiated TPC program will be expanded into a new entity, tentatively named “Sport Peace Corps.” This would involve a range of Olympic sports promoted to developing nations and vulnerable populations in cooperation with the U.N. and the IOC.

Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation

To help refugees and displaced persons around the world, WT assisted in establishing the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF) in April 2016 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Choue, who heads both WT and the THF, officially announced his plan for the launch of the THF at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 21, 2015 on the U.N. International Day of Peace.

Under its mission “Empowering the Powerless,” the THF supports refugees and displaced persons worldwide by training them in the sport and martial art of Taekwondo. It provides them with necessary equipment, infrastructure and related educational programs teaching the values of Olympism, world peace and global citizenship.

The THF is now running Taekwondo programs at refugee camps in Jordan (Azraq Syrian Refugee Camp), Rwanda (Mahama and Kiziba camps), Turkiye (Elbeyli Refugee Camp), Switzerland (Lausanne), France (Paris and Saint-Denis), Eswatini (Malindza) and Mexico (Tijuana). In total, about 7,000 refugees have participated in THF programs.

The THF started a Taekwondo academy, called the Humanitarian Taekwondo Center, at the Azraq Refugee Camp in Amman, Jordan in April 2016. It remains the THF’s flagship project.

About 200 refugee children learn Taekwondo at the camp every week, which has produced about 70 black-belt holders.

A total of 10 international sport federations have signed a memorandum of understanding with WT and the THF to use the Humanitarian Taekwondo Center facility to teach their sports: wrestling, table tennis, badminton, judo, hockey, Muay Thai, baseball-softball, sambo, power boat, and basketball.

In the Mahama and Kiziba camps in Rwanda, the THF works with the Rwanda Taekwondo Federation and trains over 300 refugees every week. Some coaches are refugees themselves.

In Turkiye, the THF has partnered with the Turkish Taekwondo Federation since 2017 to teach refugee children Taekwondo at the Kilis camp. In September 2018, the Kilis camp was closed and the program restarted at the Elbeyli camp, which teaches about 2,000 refugees.

In August 2021, the THF started teaching about 20 refugees in Lausanne, Switzerland under the theme “Taekwondo for Inclusion.”

The THF started a refugee project in Paris, France in February 2022 together with the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF) and the French Ministry of Sports. The project, which will run until the end of 2024 Paris Olympic Games, is expected to draw about 1,000 refugees.

The ORF, established in December 2017, is chaired by IOC President Thomas Bach and Choue is serving the foundation as a founding board member.

In February 2022, the THF and Next Generation Taekwondo, an academy based in Manzini, Eswatini launched a new project for about 80 refugees and displaced people at the Malindza refugee camp under the theme “Bringing Taekwondo to Refugees.”

WT Cares Program

WT started its in-house WT Cares Program in early 2016 to help fulfill its social responsibility as an international sport federation under the IOC.

The WT Cares Program is part of the development programs of the WT Member Relations & Development Department.

Under the mission of “Taekwondo for All and World Peace through Taekwondo,” the WT Cares Program reaches out to the disadvantaged, such as orphans, street children, reformatory inmates, alcohol and drug addicts, female household victims, etc.

WT carried out pilot Cares projects in earthquake-hit Nepal and at the Azraq Syrian Refugee Camp in Amman, Jordan in 2016.

WT then implemented its one-year Cares project in Rwanda in 2017 as part of the SBS Hope School program, which was resumed in 2019 for another one-year period. The SBS, which signed an agreement with WT, built schools as part of its corporate social responsibility program in Africa.

With financial support from the Asia Development Foundation (ADF), WT carried out its one-year Cares projects in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Cambodia in 2019. In 2019, the ADF donated USD90,000 to WT for the WT-ADF Cares projects, which increased to USD150,000 in 2020 and USD200,000 in 2021. The ADF donated WT USD150,000 in 2022.

In December 2020, WT started one-year Cares projects in Sri Lanka and Bhutan. In December 2021, WT began its Cares projects in Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Cambodia and Nepal. WT kicked off new WT-ADF Cares projects for Kyrgyzstan, Timor-Leste, and Mongolia in July 2022. In August 2022, a new WT-ADF Um Hong Gil Human School Cares project started near Pokhara, Nepal.

WT started a new one-year Cares project for Pakistan in May 2023, while continuing its Cares program for Sri Lanka in May 2023. WT wishes to further expand the WT Cares Program to other continents. WT is encouraging WT member national associations and continental unions to carry out Cares projects nationally and/or globally.

WT-ITF Taekwondo Demonstrations / ‘One World, One Sport Taekwondo’

Taekwondo has played a role in the promotion of peace on the Korean Peninsula, from where the sport originated.

The Seoul-based WT and the North Korea-led International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) performed joint demonstrations during the opening ceremony of the 2015 World Taekwondo Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia on May 12, 2015; and the opening and closing cer- emonies of the 2017 World Taekwondo Championships in Muju, Korea on June 24 and 30.

The joint demonstrations were made possible due to a protocol of accord, which was signed by the heads of WT and the ITF in Nanjing, China on Aug. 21, 2014 with the attendance of IOC President Thomas Bach.

The two organizations performed a joint WT-ITF demonstration shortly prior to the opening ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games on Feb. 9, 2018.

Under the slogan “One World, One Sport Taekwondo,” the two bodies then performed a joint demonstration in Pyongyang, North Korea on April 2, 2018. There was another joint WT-ITF demonstration in Pyongyang when the WT Demonstration Team visited the capital city of North Korea between Oct. 30-Nov. 3, 2018.

On May 30, 2018, the WT Demonstration Team performed in front of the Pope at the Vatican. The ITF Demonstration Team was supposed to join the demonstration, but failed to attend at the last moment.

Earlier, the WT Demonstration Team performed at the Vatican on Oct. 5, 2016. The Pope received an honorary Taekwondo black belt from WT President Choue at the Vatican on May 10, 2017.

On April 11, 2019, WT and the ITF joined hands to perform a joint demonstration at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland to mark the 25th anniversary of Taekwondo’s inclusion in the Olympic program, with the attendance of IOC President Bach.

At the ceremony, Bach said, “WT transformed a Korean martial art into one of the most popular sports in the world, and WT also has developed the men’s sport into a sport with gender equality.”

The IOC president continued to say, “WT opened a pathway to sport participation for refugees and provided motivation for the creation of Olympic refugee teams and the establishment of the Olympic Refuge Foundation.” He concluded by saying, “I wish to thank Taekwondo for demonstrating the power of sport in contributing to peace. I hope these two organizations will continue the collaboration they committed to in Nanjing, China in 2014, which witnessed.”

On April 12, 2019, WT and the ITF showcased the power of Taekwondo to promote peace during a joint demonstration at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

In 2021 the WT Demonstration Team competed in the preliminary and reached the final round of “America’s Got Talent” in September.

The WT’s slogan “Peace is More Precious than Triumph” was shown during the demonstration, winning the hearts of people worldwide.

‘Peace is More Precious than Triumph’

“Peace is More Precious than Triumph” is the slogan of WT. The slogan is from the title of a book by Young Seek Choue, an academic and the late father of WT President Choue.

When Korea was recovering from the devastating Korean War in the 1950s and 1960s, Choue Sr. prioritized education and peace as pillars to build a civilized world. He envisioned Korea as a global leader in these areas. For this reason, he created the Kyung Hee University System to promote world peace through education.

In 1975, he launched the Global Common Society, or GCS movement. GCS focuses on the development of individual ethical standards that collectively contribute to a civilized world. It is from such a humble beginning and vision that he ultimately created the global peace movement in 1981.

And it was through this global peace movement that Choue Sr. left behind a legacy that is still relevant to this day. In 1981, South Korea was not a member of the U.N. At that time, Choue Sr. was president of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP). During an IAUP meeting in San Jose, Costa Rica in July 1981, Choue Sr. proposed the founding of a UN International Day of Peace.

Costa Rica submitted the proposal on behalf of the IAUP to the 36th U.N. General Assembly in 1981. That same year, the U.N. accepted the proposal and recognized the third Tuesday of every September as the International Day of Peace, which later changed to Sept. 21. That was the beginning of the U.N. International Day of Peace, held on every Sept. 21.

Inspired by his father’s grand peace vision, Chungwon Choue has dedicated most of his efforts as president of WT to the realization of peace through the Olympic sport of Taekwondo.

WT Contribution to U.N. SDGs & Olympic Agenda 2020+5

WT is actively contributing to the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 3 on good health and well-being, SDG 5 on gender equality, SDG 8 on decent work and economic growth, SDG 10 on reducing inequalities, SDG 11 on sustainable cities and communities, SDG 13 on climate action, and SDG 17 on partnerships for goals.

In accordance with the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020+5, WT is closely cooperating with the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, the Olympic Refuge Foundation and other refugee-related international organizations.

For instance, Taekwondo was the first combat sport in the Olympic Games to allow the wearing of hijab under protective headgear at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. At the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, Taekwondo was the only sport to send an equal number of male and female international referees.

In 2019, WT was one of the first international sports federations to sign the U.N. Sport for Climate Action framework, and was recognized by the IOC for taking concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at WT’s World Championships.

Looking Back, Aiming Forward

Sport has a powerful role to play in addressing social issues and achieving global targets. Through Taekwondo, WT promotes values such as inclusiveness, respect, tolerance, courtesy, and integrity.

This is what “Peace is More Precious than Triumph” is all about. WT has evolved over the past decade, thus solidifying its status as an Olympic core sport. WT aims to become one of the most respected international sport federations by 2023, when it marks the 50th anniversary of its founding.

Taekwondo is the predecessor of the “Korean Wave,” or Hallyu - the global spread of Korean pop culture.

As Korea’s gift to the world, Taekwondo is a blessed sport that serves for the benefit of all mankind - “Hongik Ingan” in Korean. Within the space of half a century, Taekwondo has been promoted as a peace-loving, non-violent martial sport, which is greatly beloved by people all around the world.