World Taekwondo Federation

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. 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.

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."