Kim's Taekwon-Do Goodwill Ambassador Trip
Mr. Hull and I were fortunate to be part of Kim’s Taekwon Do embassador tour to Yanji, China and Seoul, South Korea this fall. There were a group of 27 students from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Hawaii, Illinois and New York. Most of the students were Masters (5th degree and above) or other high-ranking black belts. We spent 5 days in Yanji, China, which is in Northern China, on the border with North Korea, and 4 days in Seoul.
The people in China were extremely gracious and friendly, although very few spoke any English whatsoever. China is of course a Communist country, and it was different from our own. The main reason for our trip to China was to assist at Yanbian University in Yanji. Our goal was to reintroduce traditional taekwon do to the university students and work with them to help familiarize them with the more traditional taekwon do style, as distinguished from the Olympic Games style which they practice. We were treated like royalty by the University staff and all of the students. It was a “working” vacation with daily taekwon do exercise every morning at 6:00 a.m. and then teaching in the afternoon, but it was an incredible experience. While we were in China, Great Grandmaster Kim administered a promotion test for the professor at Yanbian University. Great Grandmaster Kim is quite well respected and well known in many other parts of the world. In addition to working with the Chinese students, we performed a couple of demonstrations while in China.
We spent four more days in Seoul, Korea. We were honored guests at the university in Seoul. Their taekwon do team performed a demonstration for us, and we performed for them. The highlight of our trip was a trip to the Korean Folk Village in Seoul. It is a village with many replications of homes in Korea throughout the years. We performed a demonstration at the Village as well, in front of an astounding crows of over 1500 people! It truly was an amazing experience. While we were in Korea, the country was celebrating its 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean war and the establishment of the Republic of Korea. There were many festivities in town. We were able to spend an afternoon at the Korean War Memorial in Seoul, which was very, very interesting, and quite moving. There was a very large section devoted to the memory of those servicemen from the United States who gave their lives helping Korea fight for its freedom from communism.
Our trip was a truly wonderful experience and one we will cherish for many years to come. We were anxious to get back home to our family, both our own family and our extended Taekwon Do family, and return to our students.
-Mrs. Hull
