What makes ChungTongKwan Yudo an official Korean Kwan?

Chung Tong Yudo  was approved as a kwon in Seoul, Republic of Korea in December 2000.  The kwon charter, in the form of a "stone certificate", was issued jointly by the Korea Judo Association, the National Governing Body for Judo in the Republic of Korea, and member of the International Judo Federation, and the ROK Yudo Association, the traditional military art organization for this oriental art in the Republic of Korea.

There are three major traditional military arts in Korea.  These are Yudo, Hapkido, and Taekwondo.  There are also a number of smaller ones.  Kumdo, for example, is Korean swordsmanship.  KiDo, better known outside Korea than in it, once received cultural recognition from the Department of Education for its style, which resembles Chinese boxing.

Korea is both home and headquarters for the traditional Korean military arts.

The  ROK Yudo Association is home to the Korean tradition of the oriental art of Judo.  By co-chartering ChungTongKwan Yudo with the Korea Judo Association, the ROK Yudo Association provided a means for students outside the Republic of Korea to study and practice this art in accordance with its Korean traditional and lineage.  There is no association, other than the International Yudo Federation, authorized by either the Korea Judo Association or the ROK Yudo Association to teach the traditional Korean military art of Yudo outside the Korean peninsula.

The Korea Hapkido Federation is the governing body - world-wide - for the military art of Hapkido.  ChungTongKwan Yudo is cross-registered as a kwon of the Korea Hapkido Federation.  HaeMuKwan Hapkido is the international Hapkido kwon chartered by the Korea Hapkido Federation.  It is to Hapkido as Chung Tong Yudo is to Yudo.  The ChongKwanJang or Founding Grandmaster of HaeMuKwan Hapkido is the official representative of the Korea Hapkido Federation outside the Korean peninsula.

There are two international governing bodies for Kukki Taekwondo, or National Taekwondo, the national sport of Korea.  These are the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) for South Korea, and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) for North Korea.

The governing body for the traditional military art of Taekwondo - world-wide - is the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA).  There are nine kwons of the KTA, of which two are considered “inactive”. 

The ROK Yudo Association, the Korea Hapkido Federation, and the Korea Taekwondo Association, along with the other legitimate, although smaller, traditional military arts organizations, belong to the Korean Martial Arts Instructors Association (KMAIA), headquartered in Shihung City.  The KMAIA is the standard-setting organization for the military arts.  It establishes, for example, the minimum training qualifications for military art instructors.  Recently, it decreed that all instructors must possess a minimum of two years of college education. While existing instructors may be grandfathered and avoid compliance, no such grandfathered individual may hold elected office in a member body.  In five years, the requirement for two years of college education will be raised again.

All legitimate military art instructors in Korea belong to the local organization of the KMAIA.  Continuing education is a mandatory requirement for continuing membership.  Belonging to the same instructor organization also means that instructors from all other the military arts get to meet one another and to train together.

An International Chapter of the KMAIA has been created for traditional military art instructors located outside Korea.  This chapter conducts the same instructor training outside Korea as is conducted on the Korean peninsula, to the same standard, and often by the same instructors. 

What makes Chung Tong Yudo an official kwon of the Korean military arts?  Let’s review.  ChungTongKwan Yudo is a member of the ROK Yudo Association, the Korea Judo Association, the Korea Hapkido Federation,  and the Korean Martial Arts Instructors Association.  It is the only organization in the world, headquartered outside the Republic of Korea, that can factually make that assertion.  Further, ChungTongKwan Yudo is the only kwon in the Korean military arts authorized, and approved - by the official governing bodies and organizations in the Republic of Korea - to teach the traditional Korean military art of Yudo outside the Republic of Korea.

No brag, just fact.