What has Korea done lately

[terryl965]

In your opinion what has Korea done over the last Ten years to make there type of Martial Art legit?

What has been there highlights?

What has been the less favorite moves in there part?

What is it that makes you want to train under there ideal?

 

[MBuzzy]

In your opinion what has Korea done over the last Ten years to make there type of Martial Art legit?

What has been there highlights?

What has been the less favorite moves in there part?

I can't speak for the last ten years, since I haven't been involved - or alive - long enough to know. But the biggest contributions I think haven't been from the country itself, but from the organizations. The ITF, WTK, Kukkiwon, US SBD Federation, Korean SBD Assoc, ALL of the TSD orgs, etc etc etc have all grown much larger and more powerful. Most of them have the influence needed to actually promote and propagate their styles to large portions of the population. As for making it legit...I think the only way to really do that is for it to be proven, which is difficult.

In terms of highlights, the Korean government has grown its support of the KMAs, even going so far as to have schools include TKD as a part of the physical fitness curriculum. The Korean Military has been teaching TKD to ALL soldiers for a VERY long time. That's made a big difference just in terms of the Korean public knowing KMAs, since every male is required to join the military. It has also grown the support of the younger population - partly because there are SO MANY TKD and TSD schools there - and partly because younger males want to learn the style to advance them in the military once they join.

My biggest concern in OVERALL Korean arts is the public opinion of Tae Kwon Do. It is an important style and has vastly improved the opinions of KMAs in general, but it seems that TKD is getting more and more of a "sport" connotation associated with it. The general non MA public seem to categorize TKD more and more by the competition aspect and the McDojos that are out there.

What is it that makes you want to train under there ideal?

I began in KMAs because that was it in my hometown. Basically the Joe Goss Schools (International Tang Soo Do Federation) own the town in terms of Martial arts. They are it. So I got involved in TSD there....but after living in Korea for a year, that makes me all the more committed to the Korean ideal. I thought that the culture was wonderful, the people were great and I loved the food. But mainly, I like the fact that the KMAs borrow largely from other styles. They are all heavily influenced by Japanese and Chinese styles, with their own influence added in. I just think of it as a "best of the best" situation. I find that the Korean arts are very prone to "updating" and keeping up with the times, which is very important to me. It seems that the more historical styles born and living in other countries tend to stay much more traditional and don't tend to adapt - although this is just my largely uninformed opinion.

 

[Namu]

Simmudo is drawing members from other styles. A look at the backgrounds of the people who belong to the Korea USA Simmudo association shows a diverse background.

Although I don't know much about it, the International Combat Hapkido Federation seems to be doing good things for spreading Korean martial arts.

I don't pay much attention to the sports side of TKD to be honest. I'm more interested in practical applications.