Inter-Korean Engagement Resumes, With Taekwondo at the Center

The founder of taekwondo, Choi Hong-hi, conceived of the martial art in the ashes of the Korean War. As a South Korean army general, Choi had seen so much suffering, starting with Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea, through the 1950-53 war in which millions died. He sought to turn the human body into a weapon and devise a form of combat that could prevent the widespread devastation caused by mechanized warfare. He also saw martial arts as a way of inculcating character, of spreading moral guid