World Taekwondo Federation

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World Taekwondo Federation
Formation	1973
Headquarters	Samseon-dong Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Korea
Membership	ASOIF
Website	http://www.wtf.org

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) is the International Federation (IF) member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for the competition events of the martial art of Taekwondo. It was established in South Korea on May 28, 1973, at its inaugural meeting held at the Kukkiwon with participation of 35 representatives from the world. The current president is Chungwon Choue who was elected for a four-year term in 2005.^[1] ^[2] The WTF, which only governs the function of Taekwondo competitions and related support services, should not be confused with the World Taekwondo Headquarters, also known as Kukkiwon, which is a center of learning and research of Taekwondo located in Yuksam Dong, a different part of Seoul. Kim successfully lobbied to include Taekwondo sparring competition as a demonstration sport in the 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics, and official Full Medal Olympic sport beginning in 2000, and is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations. ^[2]

According to the WTF, "Taekwondo is a Korean unarmed martial art. It is not only kicking and punching, but a way of thinking and living. The main goal of Taekwondo is to achieve total body and mind control through proper training."^{[citation needed]}

1 Membership
2 Organisation structure
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Membership

Only national associations may be members of the WTF, there are no individual members. Currently, there are five regional unions: the African Taekwondo Union, Asian Taekwondo Union, European Taekwondo Union, Oceania Taekwondo Union, and the Pan-American Taekwondo Union, within each union there are multiple member countries. The member association representing the United States is within the Pan-American Taekwondo Union, and is called USA Taekwondo, Inc. A prospective member (an individual) in the United States would register for membership with USA Taekwondo. This individual membership would be with USA Taekwondo, and would not be a member with the WTF. In the UK, member affiliation is done through the BTCB (British Taekwondo Control Board).

[edit] Organisation structure

The organisational structure of the WTF has diverisifed at various times over its more than 30 year history to incorporate the various changes, affiliations and associations over these years of growth. As of 2007 the organisation is headed up by a General Assembly made up from members of the 182 member National Associations from the five world regions it represents. This in turn consists of a WTF Council composed of an Executive Committee and various sub committees. The Executive Committee comprises a president, secretariat, and an Advisory Council. The sub committees are made up of various departments within the organisation, including a technical committee and representative committees of games, women's, legislative, financial, medical, athletic and PR areas.^[1]