Taekwondo Peace Corps Getting Popular Overseas 

By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) launched its Taekwondo Peace Corps (TPC) in July 2008 to provide more opportunities for disadvantaged youth in developing countries to learn the sport.

The project was first raised by WTF President Choue Chung-won at an international workshop on sports and peace in Leuven, Belgium on Sept. 21, 2007. He then proposed an expanded "Sports Peace Corps" initiative involving all summer Olympic sports at an international forum on peace and sport in Monaco on Dec. 6, 2007.

The WTF selected 27 university students majoring in taekwondo, including three translators, and sent them to seven regions in five countries - Russia, Paraguay, India, Pakistan and China, where they spent the summer of 2008, teaching local people the skills and values of taekwondo.

After its maiden success, the second dispatch was made in the winter of 2008, and a total of 32 members flew to eight countries for one to two months. The countries were China, Russia, Egypt, Morocco, Bolivia, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.

On its third occasion in July-August of 2009, the WTF dispatched 48 members to El Salvador, India, Isle of Man, Samoa, Bhutan, Nigeria, Mongolia, Angola, the Philippines, Poland, Azerbaijan, and Mexico.

ksw@koreatimes.co.kr