DPRK TOUR - VIP DEMO IS AN AMAZING SUCCESS

VIP DEMO IS AN AMAZING SUCCESS

 Dr. George Vitale

The famous ITF Chosun National Taekwon-Do Team kicked off their Central European demonstration tour at the Museum Fur Volker (Museum of Ethnology) located in Vienna, the Capital City of Austria. The Museum dates back to the 1800s and their anthropological collection specializes in non-European artifacts, making it fitting that this first performance highlighting an Eastern Art from Korea takes place in this spectacular building. The Museum is located in the Imperial Palace, which is over 600 hundred years old and currently also houses the Austrian President’s Executive Residence. This has been the seat of governments dating back to the 13^th Century, including one of the last great European Empires, the Austro-Hungarian Empire. 

Standing room only capacity VIP crowd

Vienna Austria is also the seat of the International Taekwon-Do (ITF) Headquarters since 1985. General Choi Hong Hi, the first president and founder of the ITF moved the office there in 1985 to help facilitate the spread of his original style of Taekwon-Do throughout Europe, due to its central location as well as the access it afforded at the time to socialist and communists nations due to Austria’s political neutrality. This was of course during the period of the Cold War and when the “Iron Curtain” divided Europe in two.

Society Magazine, a publication that reports on top events in business, science, politics, diplomacy, culture and society, hosted the event in Vienna. The magazine has a long history of reporting on such activities as it previously merged with UN Magazine, which dated back to 1945. Invited guests to this exclusive show were the many international diplomats assigned to Vienna, along local and national political leaders. 

The POWER of Taekwon-Do!

The event was standing room only and the guests were a who’s who of the top diplomatic corp. Attending this invitation only performance were sixteen Ambassadors from every region on the planet. Additionally the Austrian former Minister of Health, representatives from the European Union, Austrian Parliament, officials from the American and Chinese Embassies, as well as local government leaders enjoyed the evenings festivities.  

The formal gala night started off with a cocktail reception. The first performance was of Japanese archery, led by Dr. Diethard Leopold, who is the President of the Austrian-Japanese Society. This was followed by a Japanese sword demonstration under the guidance Dr. Elisabeth Noisser. The Chinese Martial Arts was preceded by a Dragon show in honor of the recent Lunar New Year. Various Shaolin fighting and Wushu exhibitions were led by Grandmaster Chen Shi Hong, who has acted in several Kung Fu movies. The grand finale was the ITF Korean Taekwon-Do team from the DPR Korea. The Chosun National team brought the audience to their feet several times with their amazing display of synchronized movements, high flying kicks and brutal self-defense routines.

ITF President Dr. Chang Ung is honored with the first ever Society (UN) Magazine's Lifetime Achievement for his work in spreading peace through the martial arts

When the action ended all the performers were called to the stage for a final bow. This “world premiere of a special martial arts show demonstrating the historical and cultural importance of martial arts for peaceful interaction”* concluded with a special award. Dr. Chang Ung, IOC Member and President of the ITF, was presented with a lifetime achievement award for his work in moving this laudable goal forward. This was the first lifetime award ever by Society (UN) Magazine. Afterwards both performers and the spectators were treated to a catered dinner that included cuisine from all three of the East Asian countries represented in the show.

TKD Times has long supported using martial arts to unite the world. Under Grandmaster Jung Woo Jin’s leadership, they were instrumental in the first two ever-cultural exchanges between Americans and North Koreans on US soil in 2007 and 2011.* While this cultural exchange took place in neutral Austria, Taekwon-Do again brought North Korean and Americans together. This time it was not only the North Korean performers and American spectators, but staffs of both Embassies assigned to Vienna. Another first for “Taekwon-Do Diplomacy”, which started back in 1959 when General Choi led the ROK Army’s Taekwon-Do Team from South Korea to Vietnam and Taiwan! 

Demonstration participants take a bow

Please check the website* for more updates from the scene by our TKD Times correspondent who is traveling with the team.

* From the engraved invitation of the Society (UN) Magazine 

*Visit http://www.usnktkd.com for more complete information, including photos, videos and letters of appreciation for those first ever-cultural exchanges between the USA & DPRK

*http://www.www.taekwondotimes.com

Dr. George Vitale encourages readers to comment on the above stories & to bring to his attention any mistakes, oversights, added information or any other corrections by posting a comment on the blog.