Why did ITF and WTF split?

Choi Hong-Hi fondé l'ITF en 1966, mais a rompu avec le dictateur militaire sud-coréen Park Chung-Hee et est allé en exil auto-imposé, emmenant lui-même et son organisation au Canada. Il a ensuite passé la direction de son organisation, basée à Vienne, à des responsables nord-coréens. Un autre ITF est dirigé par le fils de Choi, Choi Jung-Hwa, qui s'est séparé de son père peu de temps avant sa mort. Une deuxième scission de l'ITF est survenue après la mort de Choi senior, créant un troisième ITF basé à Benidorm, en Espagne. La Corée du Sud a poursuivi pour mettre en place l'organisation World Taekwondo, qui est maintenant la principale, reconnue comme l'organe de sanction du sport par le Comité international olympique. Il y a eu des tentatives de rapprochement, mais à Séoul, un porte-parole de World Taekwondo a déclaré : "Il est difficile de parler de la perspective d'unir les fédérations." Un groupe de démonstration de l'ITF a effectué une démonstration aux championnats du monde WT cette année, où ils ont été photographiés avec le président Moon Jae-In. Les plans pour le WT de se rendre à Pyongyang en retour n'ont pas abouti. "Cela n'a pas marché à cause de la question des missiles entre la Corée du Nord et la Corée du Sud", a déclaré le porte-parole de la WT.

In the late 1970s, early 1980s, some changes were made to the pattern set and some fundamental technical approaches which precipitated philosophical conflicts and resulted in the departure of a number of Grand Masters from the ITF. Among them was Grand Master Park Jung Tae who went on to set up his own Taekwon-Do system, the Global Taekwon-Do Federation (GTF). In 2001 General Choi's son, Master Choi Jung Hwa, was voted the successor to the ITF presidency, but the succession was subsequently overturned by General Choi. Believing himself to be the duly elected president, Master Choi Jung Hwa moves to Canada and sets up headquarters there. This ITF becomes known as ITF-C (for Canada). In his last Will & Testament, which he dictated in front of a number of his Grand Masters, he named Mr. Chang Ung the president of the ITF. Mr. Chang Ung was basketball player with no Taekwon-Do experience. General Choi was hoping to use Mr. Chang Ung's position on the International Olympic Committee to have ITF Taekwon-Do added to the olympics, replacing WTF style Taekwondo. This caused huge controversy and on June 15, 2002 when General Choi Hong Hi passed away, the issue of the ITF presidency had not been resolved. In the confusion the Vice President of the Vienna based ITF (now known as ITF-V) had declared himself the Interim President of the ITF-V. Meanwhile, General Choi's son, Master Choi Jung Hwa, continued his assertion as president of ITF-C (the suffix initials of V and C were added as a way of distinguishing which ITF system was being referred to). In addition to ITF-C and ITF-V, Mr. Chang Ung became president of what became known as ITF-NK (for North Korea) splitting the ITF into three separate organizations.