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WTF Welcomes Seoul-Based Ambassadors to Inaugural Year-End Gathering
WTF President Chungwon Choue, WTF executives and staffers welcomed some 20 Seoul-based ambassadors to the federation’s office for an inaugural year-end party on November 27, 2015.
“I know you are all busy ambassadors, so it is wonderful to have you here tonight,” said Choue, in a speech delivered after a short informational film about the WTF in 2015 had played. “Taekwondo started in Korea, but it is not Korean anymore - it is universal.”
Choue then passed the microphone around to the gathered ambassadors.
“Taekwondo is a sport that really brings people together,” said Jordanian Ambassador to Korea Omar Al-Nahar. “Taekwondo is diversity” said Mexican Ambassador to Korea Jose Luis Bernal Rodriguez. “Taekwondo is a sport that brings only peace,” added Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Korea Ramzi Teymurov. “It is fighting - but it is peaceful fighting.”
After the formalities, wine and conversation flowed.
“Thank you for hosting us in this beautiful part of Seoul!” said Teymurov, referring to the WTF’s new HQ, which relocated this year to the heart of the capital. It sits directly to the west of -and overlooks -Gyeongbokgung Palace, the royal residence around which the city was constructed in the 14th century.
2015 has been a successful year for the WTF, with Para-taekwondo being accepted onto the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics program, with the World Championships being held successfully in Chelyabinsk, Russia, and with President Choue being invited to address the United Nations in New York.
2016 looks even more auspicious. The Rio Olympics will be the central sporting fixture, and the WTF’s latest charity initiative, the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation, will begin full-scale operations, taking taekwondo into refugee camps worldwide.
Source: WTF
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