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and issue certification. I am not sure how<br />
much technical advice they can truly<br />
provide. I feel that there must be a clear<br />
division between martial arts for practical<br />
fighting and for use as a sport. There<br />
must be a clear curriculum for teaching<br />
martial arts for practical self defense and a<br />
separate curriculum for martial arts training<br />
as a sport with clearly defined competition<br />
rules.<br />
In what direction did you feel the ITF<br />
would go when General Choi passed<br />
away in 2002? Has<br />
it panned out as<br />
you might have<br />
imagined back<br />
then?<br />
The ITF was already<br />
splitting into different<br />
directions even<br />
before General Choi<br />
passed away. I feel<br />
that this situation<br />
became worse after<br />
he passed. I believe<br />
this is because they<br />
do not have a strong<br />
enough leader. The<br />
ITF is not running<br />
properly as an<br />
International<br />
Organization. Most<br />
gyms are run<br />
individually not as<br />
one cohesive group.<br />
I would like to see<br />
<strong>Tae</strong>kwondo unify<br />
into one worldwide<br />
body. In order for<br />
this to happen we need a strong leader<br />
who knows not only politically how to bring<br />
people together, but the leader must also<br />
know technical matters. The difference<br />
between ITF and WTF is based in<br />
technical matters. <strong>Tae</strong>kwondo may have a<br />
chance to unify with the help of the<br />
Olympic Committee. I would suggest that<br />
the leaders of the ITF and WTF present<br />
the Olympic Committee with at least 2 sets<br />
of basic hand and foot movements, forms,<br />
22 - <strong>Totally</strong> <strong>Tae</strong> <strong>Kwon</strong> <strong>Do</strong><br />
and sparring rules and let them decide<br />
which would best fit the Olympic style.<br />
What are your thoughts on Chang Hon<br />
<strong>Tae</strong>kwon-<strong>Do</strong> today?<br />
I am not exactly sure what you mean by<br />
Chang Hon <strong>Tae</strong>kwondo. If you are<br />
referring to the original way the forms were<br />
practiced as I created them with General<br />
Choi, I believe this way is technically<br />
superior to how they are practiced today. I<br />
am against the sin wave theory that<br />
General Choi implemented. I met with him<br />
briefly after his last<br />
seminar in Colorado,<br />
I was living there at<br />
the time, and<br />
expressed my<br />
disapproval of this<br />
method. He told me<br />
that he would be<br />
willing to listen to my<br />
ideas and see if we<br />
could work out an<br />
a g r e e m e n t .<br />
Unfortunately this<br />
never happed due to<br />
his passing.<br />
Many thanks for<br />
allowing this<br />
interview and being<br />
so frank with your<br />
answers. Are there<br />
an final thoughts or<br />
comments you`d<br />
like to add?<br />
In closing I would like<br />
to restate my feelings<br />
Hong Kong, 1966<br />
on the unification of<br />
<strong>Tae</strong>kwondo worldwide. I have been<br />
independent for so long I could not join the<br />
WTF and it would also be difficult for me to<br />
join the ITF because of all the changes<br />
that have taken place. If there was a<br />
strong ITF presence in Seoul, I may be<br />
able to help advise them on technical<br />
matters. I am prepared to challenge<br />
anyone on technical matters regarding<br />
<strong>Tae</strong>kwondo. My theories and principles<br />
are the most practical, efficient, technically
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