http://vimeo.com/6846374

So might find the above interview interesting.

Interesting interview, just a shame they HAVE to get the digs in on UKTA at the end. Over 25 years on and they still have to stir...

I'm (very) biased, but, yes, North Korea is a thug state, and Gen Choi Hong Hi had no business going there. I'm also not very impressed by the NK TKD sine wave. As this GM Choi said, the original one is far better.

That's as may be, but he did go there. Also, the sine-wave is not 'north korean', it was introduced by Gen Choi across the whole ITF over 15 years ago. UKTA weren't doing it when TAGB founded.

TAGB founded over money, primarily, not technique.

I'd say just about all TKD feuds are over ego as well as money. That said, I support GM Choi's position, in that no self-respecting organization should have anything to do with North Korean TKD.

100% agree. I remember when TAGB parted company with GM Hee Il Cho, it was about his price tag. However, when GTI broke away because they wanted to be with Cho (and subsequently parted company for the same reason), Dave Oliver went in print as saying GTI's decisions were all based on ego. I found it funny that TAGB were allowed to do something but then if a smaller group did it then it was 'ego'.

Still, whether or not someone should have contact with NK, I don't see why Kenny Walton had to bring the point up about leaving UKTA, because it had absolutely nothing to do with NK, or sine waves.

The thing was, it must have really hurt GM Rhee, because allegedly, when GTI first split from TAGB, they looked at joining ITF. At the seminar/meetings GM Rhee refused to come down because many of GTI had been former members of UKTA.

What was Hee Il Cho's price tag, out of curiousity? I've never met him, but he comes across as someone who's full of hot air.

Ok I understand these sentiments. I also understand GM CK Choi's point about NK. He said that this was a fatal flaw that Gen Choi did when he decided to got there. From his vantage point his home country was torn about by a brutal civil war.
However, then does this mean that Gen. Choi should not have introduced TKD to Eastern Europe? The USSR? Red China? Where does it end? Where do you draw the line?
If it was not for the efforts of Gen Choi & his team, TKD may not even be an Olympic sport. Remember the WTF followed Gen Choi to all these countries & it was only through these efforts that the IOC made it an Olympic sport. They would not have granted official sport status if so much of the world (Communist & Socialist countries) did not adopt TKD when he introduced it there.

Now the other side of the coin, that rarely gets considered is the political side that always needs sports, music or other cultural exchanges to bring people together & warm relations between groups that do not trust each other, before they even think about having serious dialoge about tense subjects.

I am sure that by Gen Choi going to NK, he opened the eyes for some of them there, that are so very sealed off from the outside world. Likewise, now that so many of them travel to compete & teach, they of course see the real world. I do know it is working, as TKD was an actual topic of discussion as an official listed point of dialoge between the 2 Koreas, via their respective unification ministries.

Some would even say that Gen Choi was a visionary. He was after all nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize

I've no idea but I do know that TAGB had about 10 prosperous years with him and reached a high standard in international TKD under his period as chief instructor.
On the occasions I met him, he was a very inspiring person and was very popular amongst the members. I interviewed him at one time and he spoke a lot of sense. He didn't come across as boastful or hot air. I was a blue belt at the time I interviewed him, so it might demonstarte something that a world class master would agree to an in depth interview with a coloured belt. I've heard of some lesser 'masters' who wouldn't even talk to coloured belts in uniform.

According to an interview with Dave Oliver, he priced himself out of the market, as his film work and international work limited his availability to TAGB. They decided to go to panel grading (considering a number of the senior instructors were 5-6th dan at that time, there's no reason why they shouldn't have).

The GTI split was partly about people wanting to stay with Cho, and some disatisfaction at the way they perceived his departure. A couple of years down the line GTI found his price tag rather steep as well. It was hardly surprising that when the largest TKD org in the country couldn't afford him, that a young one, one-fifth of the size, certainly wouldn't be able to.

It did cause some disillusionment about him in some areas of the membership.

I do not know anything about the UKTA.

I know GM CK Choi and GM Rhee still communicate about Tae Kwon Do

I hope the TAGB treat GM CK Choi properly as he just did a weeks worth of seminars in the uK for them.

The key with General Choi is that everyone agreed to go to both North and South Korea for Tae kwon Do. It was only at the last minute that Gen Choi made a unilateral decision to only go to North Korea against the wishes of the other Masters and then he tried to impose his will on them. He did not respect the position and opinions of the other Masters. General Choi basically broke most of the Tenents that he had been pushing for years.