Abstract

Taekwondo has long been used by the Republic of Korea (ROK; South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; North Korea) for diplomatic purposes. ROK athletes practice a Taekwondo best identified as Kukki (National) Taekwondo, the competition rules for which are overseen by World Taekwondo (WT). In the North, the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) governs all aspects of that country’s Taekwondo. A shortage of other soft diplomacy tools for inter-Korean dialogue all but demands that Taekwondo diplomacy be maintained in the interests of peace. For this reason, the two organizations desire to hold joint competitions rather than the currently held joint demonstrations that have seen moderate success to date. By adopting Galtung’s conflict resolution theory (CRT) of transcendence, this study utilizes Peace Studies research to 1) permit ROK and DPRK practitioners to participate in joint competitions, 2) continue sport and cultural diplomacy efforts between WT and the ITF, and 3) allow both Kukki and ITF Taekwondo to remain intact. The examples of open Taekwando competitions provided illustrate how CRT may overcome the decades-long friction between these Taekwondo groups, thus providing an avenue for improved sports diplomacy.

摘要

跆拳道长期以来一直被大韩民国（ROK；韩国）和朝鲜民主主义人民共和国（DPRK；北朝鲜）用于外交目的。韩国运动员练习跆拳道的最佳方式是跆拳道（国家跆拳道），世界跆拳道（WT）负责监督比赛规则。在北部，国际跆拳道联合会（ITF）控制着该国跆拳道的各个方面。缺乏用于朝韩对话的其他软外交手段，但所有这些都要求维护跆拳道外交以维护和平。因此，这两个组织希望举行联合竞赛，而不是目前举行的联合示威活动，迄今为止，这些示威活动均取得了一定程度的成功。通过采用高尔顿的超越冲突解决理论（CRT），这项研究利用“和平研究”的研究成果：1）允许韩国和朝鲜执业者参加联合竞赛； 2）继续进行WT和ITF之间的体育和文化外交努力； 3）允许Kukki和ITF跆拳道保持完好无损。公开跆拳道比赛的例子说明了CRT如何克服这些跆拳道团体之间长达数十年的摩擦，从而为改进体育外交提供了一条途径。