Under an accord reached at the recent round of inter-Korean ministerial talks, the martial art of taekwondo in North and South Korea will be the subject of exchange visits. Taekwondo in the two Koreas are two branches growing out of the same root, dating back to an art of unarmed self-defense practiced in the Koguryo dynasty. South Korea is now affiliated with the World Taekwondo Federation, headed by Kim Un-yong, while the North is tied to the International Taekwondo Federation, led by North Korea’s Choi Hong Hui. The martial art began to take root in the North early in the 1980s, introduced by Choi, who had earlier played a key role in restoring the Korean art of unarmed self-defense in the South centered in the military.

The North's taekwondo features more intense and colorful moves than its South Korean counterpart. This is because while the South's emphasizes mental refinement and improved health, the North's has been developed primarily for practical use with battle in mind. Taekwondo consists of basic motions; Poomsae (form), Kyorugi (sparring), self-defense arts and Kyokpa (breaking), but there is a substantial difference with regard to Kyorugi and Poomsae between the two Koreas.

While the South's taekwondo has a total of 17 Poomsae, consisting of 8 lower qualifications and 9 higher qualifications of belt titles such as Koryo and Ilyo, the North's is subdivided into a total of 24 grades. The North's taekwondo is far more elaborate in motion, with form motions numbering over 180 and basic motions more than 3,200.

Kyorugi or sparring consists of set- and free-style in both the North and South, but the North's free-style sparring is considerably more intense and battle-like, including confronting two adversaries, which does not happen in the South. A match involves three rounds, each lasting three minutes, in the South, but this is reduced to two in the North, while the duration of each is the same.

South Korean practitioners in a match wear head-gear, trunk protectors and groin guards, Their North Korean counterparts, however, don't wear them, but instead wear gloves and shoes, developed for contest purposes, with which they hit the face of their adversaries.

Kyokpa or breaking, dubbed "might" in the North, is a discipline for demonstration purposes, in which players break pine boards, tiles and bricks with fists or the heel of the foot. Knives are used sometimes and the art of hypnotizing by willpower is mobilized in performances called ‘total bomb’ and ‘death-defying defense.’ While weights are classified into eight levels for both males and females in the South, the North has only five weight divisions.

Also popularized in the North is the so-called ‘health taekwondo,’ a new version of rhythmic physical exercises.

North Korea has a Taekwondo Hall with a floor space of 18,000m² which can accommodate 2,400 in Chongchun (Youth) Street, Pyongyang, a facility equivalent to the South's Kukkiwon or World Taekwondo Headquarters in Seoul. The latter has a total floor space of 4,220m² and a 3,000 capacity.

(Kim Kwang In, kki@chosun.com )