AGFIS/GAISF recognition of ITF - Will 3 ITF taekwondo federations with the same name step under the same umbrella organisation?

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Clarification about the “Reunification” Rumors
(November 11th, 2009)

The Board of Directors of the ITF is aware of the rumors circulating about a “reunification” plan that would merge the group of Mr. Chang Ung with the ITF and that an unsigned, unattributed announcement was sent to the TKD Times and the Totally TKD magazines who have posted it on their Websites.

The purpose of this document is to set the record straight:

* Following an approach by representatives of the group of Mr. Chang Ung, the ITF Board of Directors did agree that Master Juan Ferrando, Vice-President and Chair of the Welcome Committee, and Master Willem Jacob Bos, Secretary-General, could participate in a preliminary meeting in order to discover their intentions.
* Last week, Grand Master Tran Trieu Quan, President of the ITF, did authorize our lawyer in Vienna to agree that the court proceedings against the group of Mr. Chang Ung would be suspended temporarily (for a period of three months).
* The ITF Board of Directors has not entered into any “reunification” agreement with the group of Mr. Chang Ung. In fact, any such agreement would require approval by the ITF Congress, because it would have serious consequences for the ITF and its members and would necessitate an amendment to the ITF Constitution.

The ITF Communications Committee (one of 3)


Source: http://www.tkd-itf.org/pub_web/ver_eng/ITFA10122009.html

16th ITF Congress Meeting

(December 10th, 2009)

The 16th ITF Congress Meeting of the ITF was held on Friday November 27th & 28th at the Hotel Astor in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in conjunction with the 16th Senior and the 10th Junior ITF World Championships.

Continuing Legal Action

An important item on the meeting agenda was the question of continuing our legal action against the group of Mr. Chang Ung and a proposal that the ITF negotiate an agreement with that group.

The President introduced this item by confirming that the ITF had not made an agreement with the group of Mr. Chang Ung. He then invited Vice-President Master Juan Ferrando to tell the Congress about the meetings he and the Secretary General Master Willem Jacob Bos had had with the representatives of the other group.

The President reminded the Congress that because the ITF is a democratically-operated organization, the final decision would be decided by their votes. He then encouraged the representatives of the member countries to express their views on the subject, which they did.

The question put to the Congress was: Should the ITF continue its legal action against the group of Mr. Chang Ung? The majority response was “yes”.

Since Congress voted to continue legal action, there will be no talks to negotiate an agreement with the group of Mr. Chang Ung.

GAISF Membership

Congress voted unanimously in favor of seeking membership in GAISF for the organization, giving the Board of Directors a mandate to actively pursue this matter. We must convince GAISF that they should recognize the ITF. (At a subsequent Board Meeting, a committee was formed for this purpose. Master Tadeusz Loboda, Continental Representative for Europe, chairs this committee; the other members are Master Willem Jacob Bos and Master Juan Ferrando.)

Integration of Continental representatives into the ITF Board of directors

The Congress has approved the proposal from the ITF Executive Board to integrate representatives of Continental Federations of maximum 6 members to make the total of the ITF Board Directors as thirteen (3) members.

Activities & Achievements

The President reported to Congress about what has been achieved since the last Congress meeting. Highlights included:

• The ITF now has 83 country members, and many others have expressed interest in joining. Our objective for the next few years is to have one hundred countries.
• The ITF has been officially recognized by the government of Vietnam. The ITF sent Mr. Marius Steckiewiez, 6th dan, to Vietnam to work full-time teaching and to help them to upgrade their techniques. In October equivalency exams were held and 75 candidates passed, notably 4 for 7th dan and 26 for 6th dan. Mr. Steckiewiez will be continuing his work in Vietnam in 2010, and our experience in Vietnam will serve as a model for development in other countries.
• We are currently working on official rules of protocol for the ITF. The initial consultation has been completed. The second draft document will be sent out soon to Black Belts 8th dan and higher for their comments and suggestions. Eventually, the rules of protocol will be presented to the Board of Directors for approval.
• In the last six years 48 International Instructors Courses have been offered in countries around the globe, for a total of more than 6,000 participants.
• The Code of Ethics for instructors elaborated by the ITF Ethics and Discipline Committee, approved by the ITF Board of Directors.
• The document ‘’Inspire the world’’ out line by the ITF Development Committee providing the vision for the development of the ITF.
• We have continued to introduce new services. The program for teaching the Do is complete and we will be moving on to implementation. The working group led by Grandmaster Pablo Trajtenberg has prepared a new children’s program and presented it to the Board of Directors.

Conclusion

Over the past two years, the ITF team has continued to make steady progress on the Strategic Objectives identified when the team was elected at the 2007 Congress Meeting. (To view the list of Strategic Objectives, go to http://tkd-itf.org/pub_web/ver_eng/bd-sc.html#obe).

Source of information: Office of the President
Quebec (Canada), December 10th, 2009