On 30 November 1972 the Korea Taekwondo Association opened a central training hall in Seoul. On 6 February 1973 it was given a name: . 5,53 It calls itself the World Taekwondo Headquarters, and it stands in Gangnam, Seoul, to this day. 50,154
One week in May 1973
On 25 May 1973 the first World Taekwondo Championships were held. 53 Three days later, on 28 May 1973, the World Taekwondo Federation, the WTF, was founded at the Kukkiwon. 4,40,53 Kim Un-yong was the first president of both the Kukkiwon and the WTF. 18
The two bodies divide the work between them, and the division still shapes a club today. The Kukkiwon defines the martial art, its poomsae and its black belt ranks, and issues the Poom and Dan certificates, over 12 million of them, it says. World Taekwondo governs the sport: competition rules, rankings, and Olympic and Paralympic taekwondo. 46,51 Only holders of Kukkiwon Poom or Dan certificates may compete in WT's international events. 51 That is why this family is called "WT style", "Olympic style" or "Kukkiwon style". 1
Children and a single system
Two decisions in the 1970s shaped the belts. On 14 February 1975 the Kukkiwon decided that children under 15 would receive a rank instead of a , from 1 March 1975. 51,53 A Poom holder converts to the matching Dan later. 51 And on 5 August 1978 the kwans, the old schools of chapter one, agreed to close in favour of a single ranking system. 51,53
The road to the Games
The International Olympic Committee recognised the WTF on 17 July 1980. 4 Taekwondo was a demonstration sport at the Seoul Games of 1988 and at Barcelona in 1992. 4,8,46,80
On 4 September 1994 the IOC accepted taekwondo as an official sport for Sydney 2000, and it has been on every Olympic programme since. 4,8,46,80 Olympic , sparring, has four weight categories for each sex, where the World Championships have eight. 8,40
A new name
In June 2017 the World Taekwondo Federation renamed itself World Taekwondo, WT, to avoid the internet slang meaning of "WTF". 4
Para taekwondo
World Taekwondo became a federation recognised by the International Paralympic Committee on 16 October 2013. 47 The IPC then decided to add taekwondo to the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Para taekwondo made its debut at Tokyo 2020, held in September 2021, with six events. It grew to 10 events at Paris 2024 and is on the programme for Los Angeles 2028. 47 Only kyorugi is a Paralympic event, and para kyorugi has no kicks to the head; para poomsae was not accepted for 2028. 47 Athletes are classified into sport classes, K for kyorugi and P for poomsae, so that impairment affects results as little as possible. 10,47 The Kukkiwon followed: its chronology records its first domestic para promotion test on 16 October 2025. 53
Korea's national martial art
The Kukkiwon is more than a certificate office. It runs the World Taekwondo Academy and a demonstration team, and it hosts a festival, the World Taekwondo Hanmadang, open to its Poom and Dan holders, with poomsae, breaking and self-defence. The festival began on 9 December 1992 under the Korea Taekwondo Association, and the Kukkiwon has hosted it since 2000. 50,55 In 2018 South Korea officially designated taekwondo as its national martial art, and the Kukkiwon says the same. 1,52
Meanwhile, in 1967, five years before the Kukkiwon opened, the other family had already landed in Britain.