The Embassy of the Republic of Korea is hosting its 7th Korean Ambassador’s Cup Taekwondo Championship at Caritas Secondary Technical School on 8th June 2019.
Beginning in 2013, the Korean Ambassador’s Cup has gained tremendous interest among Taekwondo coaches and athletes in PNG. The primary purpose of the Cup is to enhance ties between Korea and PNG.
“Interestingly, it has served the practitioners in a different way, however. While this beautiful island has not been able to hold many domestic competitions, the Korean Ambassador’s Cup gives PNG Taekwondo doers a regular and great opportunity to show off their talents and efforts and compete with each other on home soil before taking part in international games in other countries,” said the Embassy.
“Namely, the event acts to identify good talents and encourage excellence. After all, PNG players need practical experiences to prepare for big events.
“In 2018, 85 players from eight clubs in the capital city contested with each other. There were around 500 people at the venue, Caritas Technical Secondary School Gymnasium.
“This year’s Korean Ambassador’s Cup is much more compelling. The Korean government plans to invite 150 outstanding athletes to Korea later this year who display superb performance at the Korean Ambassador Cups around the world.
“This will surely motivate PNG players to do their utmost. We will get to see who will be the lucky ones,” said the Embassy.
Human Exchanges through Taekwondo, a bright future of Taekwondo in PNG
In 2016, K-Tigers, Taekwondo performance team, visited PNG and fascinated the audience with their artistic and dynamic live show.
In January this year, for a month, Taekwondo PNG invited Korea’s World Taekwondo Peace Corps (three instructors and one translator) to train fifty PNG players (World Taekwondo Peace Corps has been sending Korean instructors to PNG since 2010). In March, for three weeks, four PNG athletes were invited to train in Korea along with other forty athletes around the world. It is true that these human exchanges enable the two countries to understand each other better and to reinforce relations.
These training events also help Taekwondo in PNG in many practical ways. Some of the challenges that disturb the growth of Taekwondo in PNG include the lack of experienced instructors and proper teaching standards.
These programs offer a great chance to PNG Taekwondo professionals to train better and be informed with good knowledge from the origin country’s masters. Accordingly, they could produce highly qualified PNG instructors and be able to develop unified and advanced teaching methods. This will ensure that any Papua New Guineans will learn Taekwondo in a proper manner.
High chances of the First PNG Olympic Medal
Taekwondo could be the sport to give Papua New Guinea its first Olympic medal. PNG has participated in the summer Olympics since 1976. Taekwondo was adopted as a regular in Sydney 2000, and PNG sent one male and one female Taekwondo athletes to Rio 2016. Although the male contestant, Maximillian Kassman’s challenge stopped at the preliminary round (category -68kg), he is still young and making efforts for the 2020 Olympics.
Taekwondo, promising a brighter future for Papua New Guinea
Relations between Korea and PNG so far were largely focused on economic cooperation. Korea imports natural resources and participates in infrastructure projects. PNG considers Korea(ns) as a development partner as well as a stable importer and robust business runners. While these large-scale economic projects matter in boosting the national economy, Taekwondo touches the real hearts of the Papua New Guineans, making a big difference in their everyday lives.
The Popularity of Taekwondo and Korea
Among many global martial arts enjoyed in PNG, Taekwondo is surely the most popular one. Since its introduction in the 1970s, Papua New Guineans have learned and practiced Taekwondo in schools and local clubs. Kila Perry (33), an employee at the Korean Embassy in Port Moresby, who went to Notre Dame Secondary Girls’ High School in Western Highlands Province, said Taekwondo was a regular curriculum of PE classes in her school and she liked learning Taekwondo from a black-belt master. She said firmly that by learning Taekwondo she grew physically strong. Particularly, because of its focuses on good manners, she came to know how to control herself and behave better. This Taekwondo experience left a good image of Korea and eventually led her to get a job in the Korean Embassy.
Out of 22 provinces in PNG, six have Taekwondo clubs. Taekwondo PNG aims to reach all the provinces by 2030 and believes that Taekwondo contributes to national development. Some of the famous clubs in Port Moresby are Kassman Taekwondo Club, The University Taekwondo Club and Stones Taekwondo Club.
While Hallyu, the Korean Wave denotes a variety of Korean cultures such as K-pop, Korean food, and Hangeul (the Korean language), Taekwondo is undoubtedly number one messenger of the Korean heritages here in PNG. As Taekwondo games are run in the Korean language and Taekwondo teaches Korean manners, it plays a strong and effective role in bridging the two countries and letting them share a common ground. This will pave the way for cultural exchanges between the two friends.
Self-Defense for Papua New Guineans
A lot of Papua New Guineans find self-defense skills of Taekwondo very helpful. As PNG reports many cases of pickpocketing and robberies, acquiring self-protection techniques is an advantage and Taekwondo does that job. In particular, some clubs are happy to see that more girls and women join Taekwondo classes as Taekwondo can equip them with practical skills to combat violence against women.
Character Building with Taekwondo
Taekwondo is a very special martial art in the sense that it not only reinforces physical strength, but also helps develop self-discipline and courtesy. It is because the philosophy of Taekwondo is based on five principles: courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit. This is why a lot of parents around the world tend to incorporate Taekwondo into their children’s education. They certainly see good changes in behaviour and thoughts.
Kila Perry believes the same. She said taekwondo will be of great help when applied in nationwide education in PNG as it instills in future generations good manners and peace-loving spirits. With pressure and stress increasing, some students get easily aggressive, angry and frustrated. Through Taekwondo they could be made more gentle, disciplined and resilient. This will make decent PNG citizens, who will build a harmoniously organised and peaceful country in the long run.
After the Japanese Occupation (1910-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953), Korea had to regain its national spirits and rebuild the nation. As in an aphorism of ‘a sound mind in a sound body’, Taekwondo ensured the physical and spiritual strengths of Koreans, and this led to national unity and splendid growth of Korea. Now it is PNG’s turn. Since its independence in 1975, PNG has shown enormous potentials for development. PNG people will be able to see what magic Taekwondo can do for the new history.