Prominent VIPs Address

‘World Taekwondo Peace Festival’

The World Taekwondo Peace Festival was held in Seoul, Korea on Nov. 22, 2021 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Olympic Taekwondo and the 40th anniversary of the U.N. International Day of Peace.

The event, which took place at the Seosomun Shrine History Museum in Seoul, was jointly promoted by World Taekwondo (WT), the GCS International, and the U.N. Association of the Republic of Korea.

The festival, which lasted about two hours, featured a 20-minute Taekwondo performance by the WT Demonstration Team, an opening ceremony, and a one-hour peace concert.

Shortly after the performance, there was an opening ceremony, in which WT President Chungwon Choue delivered a speech, followed by congratulatory remarks by Vice Sport Minister Jung-bae Kim, former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and U.N. Association-Korea President Ho-jin Lee.

IOC President Thomas Bach also delivered a congratulatory video message.

Choue said in his opening remarks, “Since 2000, Taekwondo has featured in six consecutive Olympic Games. Throughout the past 21 years, Taekwondo has not only brought excitement to fans around the world; Taekwondo has also created a pathway for refugees, displaced persons, and the underprivileged to fulfil their sporting dreams. In Tokyo, we had four Taekwondo refugee athletes competing for the very first time in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

Choue, who has also served as president of GCS International since 2006, did not end his remarks there. “I sometimes wish that there is no such things as a U.N. International Day of Peace, because we should all live in a peaceful world every day,” he went on. “Unfortunately, there is no such utopian world. We, as global leaders, have a role to play in nurturing generations to live in harmony and respect. In a world of peace.”

Ban fondly recalled Choue’s father, Young Seek Choue, in his speech. “It was Young Seek Choue who initiated the very idea of International Day of Peace.”

In his congratulatory video message, IOC President Bach said: “Today’s festival is more than celebrating the long history of Taekwondo as an Olympic sport. Today you are putting the spotlight on the unique power of sport to unite the entire world in peace.

“Peace - this was also central to the thinking of the founder of the IOC, Pierre de Coubertin. When he revived the Olympic Games 127 years ago, he saw them as a way to promote peace among nations and peoples,” Bach said.

“This is why I would like to thank World Taekwondo under the great leadership of President Choue for organizing this festival that celebrates sport, peace and solidarity,” Bach concluded.

The peace concert featured eight songs.

Mezzo-soprano Nam-ok Paik performed “Song of Peace.”

Then Korean Soul, a famous Korean black gospel group, performed “Oh Happy Day,” followed by “Yo Soy Maria” by the Jazz Quartet.

Band Leenalchi, a seven-member group, performed “Tiger is Coming” and “Please Don’t Go.”

The Korean Adopted Children Choir performed “Magnolia Blossom,” which was written by GCS founder Young Seek Choue and composed by Dong-jin Kim, and John Lennon’s peace anthem, “Imagine.”

‘2016 Taekwondo World Peace Festival’ Rocks the Heart of Seoul

Post-Rio, Seoul celebrated Taekwondo’s Olympic success in style

For five hours on the balmy Sunday evening of Sept. 4, 2016, central Seoul thrilled to the sight of whirling, spinning kicks and echoed to the thunder of booming music as the city hosted the “2016 Taekwondo World Peace Festival.”

The festival, set in Seoul’s iconic City Hall Plaza, was headlined by high-flying, highkicking Taekwondo demonstrations. It also featured musical performances by leading K-pop acts.

The festival, in which a Taekwondo vision statement was announced, was co-organized by World Taekwondo (WT) and the Global Taekwondo Support Foundation for Peace and Unification, headed by Jun Yong-won.

Free and open to the public, the event welcomed thousands of fans who not only enjoyed the entertainment, but also got the chance to meet and collect the autographs of Team Korea’s Rio Olympic medalists and to peruse a “Taekwondo History Wall” set up in the plaza. VIPs in attendance included WT President Chungwon Choue and former WT President Kim Un Yong. “A sport with 80 million people can and should play a bigger role for world peace,” said Choue in an address to the crowd, referring to the charity programs being carried out by WT and its refugee-empowerment initiative, the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation.

2018 Jeju World Peace Walkathon Makes Strides for the Powerless

‘World Peace Island’ is setting for Open Taekwondo Championship and for fund-raising walkathon

The 2018 Jeju World Peace Walkathon was held on the “world peace island” of Jeju, Korea on July 17, 2018 drawing hundreds of people from around world.

The inaugural charity walking event, which was held at the Jeju Seaside Art Center in Jeju City, was jointly promoted by World Taekwondo (WT) and GCS International, a Seoul-headquartered, U.N.-recognized NGO.

“Taekwondo is a combat sport, but here, on the island of world peace, it is an art of friendship and peace,” said WT President Chungwon Choue.

The walkathon drew hundreds of people, mostly athletes and officials attending the 2018 Jeju Korea Open International Taekwondo Championships, which kicked off on July 18 for a weeklong event.

The opening ceremony featured a Taekwondo demonstration by about 40 senior Jeju citizens, whose average age was 80.

“I am pleased to see that, here today, we have so many athletes and officials from around the world attending the 2018 Jeju Korea Open and the 2018 Jeju World Peace Walkathon,” Choue said in his opening remarks. “To fulfill its social responsibility, World Taekwondo will more actively carry out humanitarian projects to empower the powerless around the world.”

He continued, “We are doing it through our in-house ‘Taekwondo Cares’ program. We are doing this through our Swiss-based charity, the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation. And we will also be doing it hand in hand with GCS International and other international NGOs.”

At the end of the opening ceremony, WT Council Member Inseon Kim, together with two Uzbek female athletes and two Nepalese female athletes, recited the slogan of the event, “Peace is More Precious than Triumph,” three times in English and Korean.

After a 30-minute opening ceremony at the Jeju Seaside Art Center, participants joined a 2.3km seaside walk from the center to the famous tourist attraction of Yongduam Rock via the Yongyeon Bridge.

The walkathon raised funds to be disbursed to orphans, reformatory inmates and victims of natural disasters in developing countries.

WT Chief Takes Center Stage at Peace and Sport Forum 2019

‘Investing in Peace, Acting through Sport’

World Taekwondo (WT) President Chungwon Choue was a key speaker in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Day One of the 12th edition of the Peace and Sport Forum on Dec. 11, 2019.

“Investing in Peace, Acting through Sport” was the theme of the event, which aimed to identify and share solutions to scale-up investment in long-term efforts, transform societies and leave a sustainable legacy.

Choue joined a panel of esteemed guests at the One Monte Carlo Conference Center on the opening day, addressing over 600 key decision-makers on one of the most pressing topics in sports. Choue’s expertise in this area demonstrated how WT is one of the leading International Federations in the development of peace through sport.

Choue also spoke about WT Cares, which introduced programs to help get children off the streets and into schools and Taekwondo clubs in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, the Cares program also worked on strengthening gender empowerment in Nepal and collaborated with the Cambodian government to educate about, and campaign against sexual violence.

Choue, who is also chairman of the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF), spoke about the THF Humanitarian Taekwondo Center, which was built for young people in the Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan. Taekwondo is taught to about 100 refugees at the center.

Seven Taekwondo athletes are being assisted by Olympic Solidarity through its Refugee Athletes Support Program, including one athlete from Azraq. WT has the second highest number of athletes on the program.

Following panel discussions, Choue noted how the THF is reaching out to align with other IFs.

“We have signed MOUs with Olympic IFs and non-Olympic IFs such as muaythai and sambo. We expect to sign with more IFs in the future.”

And beyond the flagship THF program in Jordan, the charity is looking further afield.

“We are now looking to expand such programs to other countries like Djibouti, Rwanda, and Colombia because we know that we can offer the gift of sport to refugees and socially underprivileged children and young adults,” Choue said.