The beauty of America!

The beauty of America!

Suegee, my daughter, said in her college application essay, “I traveled every corner of this country with family. It is very different from one place to another, but it has its own beauty,each place, and I want to protect this beauty.” She wants to be an environment activist. 

It is true, I took the Hyong family everywhere in USA. The beauty can be in the form, but also, we can cultivate thru interaction and experience. I and my children need a tons of experience and interaction with nature. Usually we were traveling in the mountains during the summer, camping in the Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, any national park, state park, or even private sites. Our favorite places were 11 Points River in Missouri during spring break for camping and trout fishing, the Rocky Mountains during the summer, and we usually went to Florida during the winter vacation. Oh my god! Rocky Mountain was a great place to visit for camping,especially setting the tents at 11,000ft on Mount Antero next to Mount Princeton, both over 14,000ft. We usually drive on Chalk Creek Drive between two mountains and get onto the mountain road where only a 4-wheeler can go. Sometimes my first daughter complained about headaches but soon adjusted to the altitude. In the area where we set the tents we saw extremely large spruces. They grow straight up toward the sky. When we walk around between the trees, the ground is very soft because the needles of the spruce trees fell for hundreds of years and fertilized the soil. Smells of spruce were everywhere, and ponderosa, Douglas Fir, and Colorado Blue Spruce too. We would set the tent next to a small creek. The water was crystal clear and we were able to see Cutthroat Trout. We would pick up a dead tree branch and sharpen it up to use as a spear and catch them, but no luck catching the fish. We usually set a tent in the tree area in between the tree line. At 9,000ft there are different trees. I saw so many white birch trees and paper birches and more.

In society, there many things are existing in USA. Not only many different beautiful trees, also people from the world and automobiles. In the 1980's also I thought it was exciting to see many automobiles from all over the world: Japanese, Korean, Germany and American automobiles. Americans love large cars, but my first car was a Japanese car. It was a very small car and I loved it. Then people were driving small cars and they become more popular because of oil shocks during the early 70's whenprices went up from $3.00 per barrel to $12.00, then in the second oil crisis to $39.00 per barrel, and with the financial crisis in the 80's the interest rate was 18%. Regardless, I loved automobiles from many different countries. The oil price goes up meanwhile my motivation goes up to buy different car and enjoy the beauty of design, power and speed.

I also met many beautiful people from the different countries when I started to attend Parkland College for English and mathematics. There were many people from all over the world transferring to other universities after 2 to 3 years. I was organizing a group of people in English class for the international day and parties. It was great place to meet many different people speaks English with different cultures makes lots of mistake and we all laugh about our mistake and correct them. All of them were different each other Like the trees and automobiles. Many of these beautiful people have a dream and wanted to pursue their goal. These were American dreams.

I have realized that it was not only humans that immigrated—also Green immigration stated in the 16th century. Trees, fruits, all types of vegetables moved around from one country to others. America is one country built by immigrant people who made the country stronger than any other country in the world. The first generation worked hard, clashed with the existing culture and melted down. The second generation watched the first generation, how they adjusted themselves into this country,imagined how they were supposed to live and created their life, inventing many things in this country. In this year 2016, six Nobel prizes are American and immigrated people. This is not only country to have people from other country, even the Korea and all countries on the earth has been moving around with belief, economical, political and individual reason.
We were all experienced in 1990's that in America, we knew it I was different life style than in modern, the artist point out that we are out of modern but unknowable where we are heading to. During the this time era, the great thing are happened. The Multiculturalism, which allow us shift our life from the adversarialism to mutuality. It started it from here in America and spreader to Japan, South Korean,in Asia and in the Europe. Also it is no longer the melting pot. It is the salads which allow to have many minorities raise theirs voice which they believe, culture and social taste.
In Rocky Mountain, it is not only White Birch. There are many more trees such as Douglas-Fir, Colorado Blue Spruce, Ponderosa, Willow and White and Paper Birches. We have trees from the all over the world, and automobiles, and even human. That is why we think America is beautiful: because of many different greens, auto, people and cultures.

Recently many of people felt uncomfortable because of leader's comments regarding race(Mexcan, Middle Eastern people), belief system(Muslim) and physical force(pipe line in South Dakota). I believe the people did not know the beauty of America. Also we are living in the democracy country. Demo-cracy means, government by citizen. We exercise power directly or elect representatives. A person who represent the citizen(the president is our SERVANT), who must see the beauty of, otherwise it will be very difficult represent the state. To be a leader I am sure that they need a leadership, intellectual, moral and more. To me, the leader must possess a esthetic eyes.
Native people believed the earth is mother land, yes I believe what they believe, it could be initiated the life by interacting he tween water and lightening on the earth, need to reinterpret the their believe system. They have been in hunting culture longer than many different civilizations. Earth embraced their way of life. They were setting the teepee in between water and trees area. It's not only they did. All civilizations did. All vegetation are near them, hunting, music and dancing are song of earth events. So they think earth, motherland where we live in harmony. Imbalance between them, then our way of living can be in danger. Many countries and scientists already warned the global warming! Also we are not listening to them. Are we really civilized?
We are focusing intellectual development, physical strength and moral. Also, we need to develop our eyes to see the beauty of us and others. The beauty is not only the thing and not only in the form, it must cultivated within individual thru interaction with all kind living thing.

Kukkiwon 1979 3

Kukkiwon 1979 2

Kukkiwon 1979 1

Good and Bad

Good and Bad

Master Hyong

4/4/12

In 2009, I purchased eight acres of land. I wanted to start a farm. I thought it was a good time to get out from the academy. I’d been teaching over 1000 students per week, over 30 years, so I was ready to get some time away from people and to spend time in nature. I learned how to farm from my mother. She was a farmer, and I would watch her when I was growing up in Korea. After we moved to the United States, if there was any small patch of land by the house, she always ploughed up the grass and planted seeds, and I would help her. I thought this was a very healthy activity. So I bought eight acres of land, and the following year I bought five more, for a total of thirteen. I planned to build a house sometime soon.

In 2010, my first year of farming, I farmed approximately an acre—that was more than enough for me to handle. I had pumpkin, watermelon, green leaves, jalapeno, Korean hot pepper, all kinds of things. There were also quite a few weeds growing. My wife wanted to make sprouts at home so I decided to have black beans, instead of purchasing them from the market, but regular beans from the United States wouldn’t sprout, so when I went to Korea, I brought black beans, and I seeded them in the ground. They were very strong plants, but there were too many weeds. To my mind, the weeds were very bad, and I wanted to pull them out. A visting scholar, Professor Roh from Korea helped me. That whole summer we fought against the weeds. And always, we were thinking, this weed is really, really bad.

Then, one day, after I had been weeding on my land, a strong wind approached. It must have been around forty to fifty knots an hour. It was extremely fast and blew up a lot of dust. But through the dust, the sky was clear. I didn’t understand what was happening. I walked over to a nearby street which runs East and West Then I looked to the west, and saw a cloud coming very low and very fast, and I realized there was a storm coming straight for my farm.

I started to pick up all my farming equipment, threw it into my jeep, and began to drive toward the west. I wanted to see if Tonato touch down. I had a nice Cannon Camera next to me. It started to rain so heavily that I couldn’t drive anymore. I stopped the jeep at the crossroads—1100 N and Race Street—and I picked up my camera and looked to the west once more. It did not seems like any Tonato, so I drove to North toward my home.

The next day, I went back to my small farm, and I saw that in all the rows I’d weeded, the beanstalks were bent down to the ground. But in the rows I’d left alone, where the black beans grew with the weeds, none of them had fallen down. And I sat down and felt my whole thought system changing in that moment. The weeds I had thought were so bad had actually protected my plants in the storm. I saw that good and bad exist together, side by side. 

The big sky country

The big sky country

Many Korean visitors have a comment about this area: "There is nothing to see." Korea is where 70% of the land is mountains and it is surrounded by the sea on three sides. The location is geopolitically complicated but it is a beautiful country. The visitors are used to seeing the beauty from the mountains. They also see the sea. It is very different here. When they are here, there is nothing to see. That is the common complaint.

I believe that the beauty is not only out there but rather inside of your mind and heart. Both the weather inside and outside need to be cultivated.

Native Americans named this area as "The Big Sky Country." The viewd of this area are endless prairies that touch the sky. Is there nothing to see in between? Spend time with nature, there are many things you can find in between. Depending on where the clouds, sun and moon are, you will see different views and unique beauty. There is not only one type of beauty. Wild flowers, tall grasses, birds, many layers of green. 

My children spent time together with me on Saturday because I taught in the evening. I had the idea, if I cannot spend time with them now, I will never have any chance to spend time with them and will never be able to teach them who is their father. It took a while to persuade them. Once I got their agreement, we did many things together. One of our favorite activities was I took them out with a camera and drove outside of town to take pictures of the prairie wild flowers. Usually we could see many beautiful flowers in the ditch in country road or near rail ways. My two daughters are more interested in taking the smells of flowers and happy to watch. However, my son actively took pictures. At the end of day, I took many negatives to Walmart, printed them out to find the good pictures and enlarged them, brought home with wall frames. A weeks later, I displayed them. When they walked downstairs, I showed them their pictures in frames. Oh! It's beautiful! Stunning! Great! My son asked me, whose pictures are they? I was laughing and said to them all of you did them! 

One visitors offered my son to sell his picture. He sold it for $50.00. A person who bought a picture thought that picture was very good picture for her. It was a valuable experience for my children that some said the picture were very beautiful. There was a flower picture, I don’t know the name of it, only I remember it was a red flower and the middle of flower was black. It makes strong contrast.

If my children are not able to cultivate their heart to see the beauty, I am sure they will not come back to this area. If they think there is nothing to see in this area, they will not appreciate this area and themselves. If we cultivate ourselves to see the beauty from our back yard, then we will see the beauty every way. I travel with family every summer all over the U.S. It is very different, one place to another, but each place has its own beauty.

Decision for Native American and Taekwondo!

Decision 

When I visited the native reservation for the first time in 1993, I had planned to teach the Taekwondo and prepared for a very long time to teach the Native Americans. I had studied much about them: how many tribes, the number of reservation, and where they are. My first visit was the Osage reservation where I met their government officers and expressed my interested. The second reservation was Ute in New Mexico, then Navaho, and last was Jicarilla Apache where I met Rod Velarde, a tribal member.

Rod took me to his home and showed all over the inside of the reservation, including sacred sites and pueblo pow wow dance. He also gave a gift to each of my family members. Mine was a Traditional 3 row choker made antique trade beads, leather, coyote bone and teeth. He also has told me that it is battle dress choker and continued his explain that the people wear it when they go to war. It will protect the neck. He asked me if I had a good experience and asked for any impression at the last dinner. His wife was making a fry bread and wrapping it around cheese. It was great native food. It smells like made out of corn, make it biscuits, smash then thin flat. His wife was using the skillet and some oil I did not ask what oil was. When it sizzling, flip them over and waited a few second and it is my plate wrapping it some vegetable ham, sausage and cheese. Usually corn tortilla was used to wrap the meat, cheese, etc., but she did it with fry bread. So I answered his question, “Fry bread.” He asked me back, “What do you mean?” I did told him fry bread is yours but inside is European. I said this because I realized there were a few churches in the reservation and most young people did not know their language. The way of dress is not much different outside of the reservation. I thought television must be strongly influential to the reservation. He mentioned a couple of times that living outside of reservation, he needed to deal with strong discrimination, but living inside is hopeless. I decided to come back after four years of college to serve the people here.

I wore the choker I got from Rod Velarde on the way back to home. We stopped in a small town for lunch. Nobody took our order and no water was given to us. We wondered what was going on and I called a waitress. Finally she came and took the order and asked me if I was Japanese. I said no, I am Korean American. My wife told me that they thought we were native because I was wearing the choker. After the lunch we gave a penny for the tip.

Since then I visit every year to his reservation, learning about their culture. What I liked most was dancing with them and understanding the meaning behind it. Some of the dances are very dynamic, such as the grass dance and fancy dance.

Back in 1993 before I visited the reservation, Jinwoong Jung, a professor of cultural anthropology, had suggested not teaching the Taekwondo and instead spending time with their culture. “Don’t make them think another foreign culture is dominating them or exploiting them.”

I followed his advice even I wanted open up a taekwondo academy immediately. It took eight years to impress them enough for them to think they need the taekwondo.

 I had told almost everyone I knew about the trip, including my wife’s church members. There are a few Korean churches in my area and my wife attends one of them. The church leader visited my home because of my wife. After meeting, he asked me how things were going with the native people. I told him the whole story. He listened patiently and asked me if he could go next year. I asked him why, and he answered right away, “I want to deliver the message of God.”

I told him how his people systematically abused these people over the last 400 years, so you don’t have to do it anymore. I explained to him that I do not understand why they are considered children of Satan and why the church got involved teaching their children. Furthermore, I said, without your god they have lived 4000 years and more.

He told me, “Man has the desire to expand his will. You are doing it, and I want to.”

I lost my words. Did I do all this to expand my will? Is that true? A few month later I realized that I did, in my mind. I wanted to expand my horizons.

I met this pastor again and told him that I was not going to teach the Taekwondo to native people. Instead I would practice their traditional dance and martial arts. I took the professor’s advice; not teaching Taekwondo was the best thing to do, not to bring foreign culture to them. It is important to understand why I did this. If you understand it, I hope you will understand the Dakota pipeline and native people’s thought system.

Eight years later, Rod Velarde asked me, “Can you teach us the Taekwondo?” I was honored and happy to hear that finally they wanted to do it. I told them that we will start it next year but we must use native language, not Korean and not English. I knew their language is disappearing. If I used it for the Taekwondo, hopefully this would help the language to survive. 

I got the answer from Rod that he would do it that way. When I came back to Champaign, I sent a message to all my friends in Korea that Jicarilla Apache wanted to have the Taekwondo lessons. My best friend Professor Gibum Lee congratulated my accomplishment. It is a remarkable accomplishment with eight years of patience, waiting for this moment. Finally, they wanted to learn.

A few year later I was invited to the Sundance in South Dakota. It was in the valley a few hours south of the Black Hills. Driving east, there were the Great Plains and then suddenly there was a small mountain. Mount Rushmore National Park is in the Black Hills. It is a well-organized site area and managed very well. One native friend asked me to visit the Crazy Horse Memorial Park which I did. There was a site information board which had too much damage from gunshot. It was very difficult to read about Crazy Horse.

A day before the Sundance, we were invited to the sweat lodge. In the middle of lodge, there was a big hole with hot volcanic stones. It was really hot and red. I don’t know how many rocks were there but I know it was a lot. We sat in three circles around the hot stones. I was in the very last circle. It still hot. I wondered how hot it would be for anyone sitting right next to the hole. The Medicine Man ordered the cover for the entry to be closed, and immediately there was drumming and chanting. The breathing was difficult; when hot air went through my nose it was painful to take and my skin felt sharp pain all over.

Inside of the sweat lodge it was dark. I could not even see who was next to me. When the chant was over, the Medicine Man said open the cover. I saw the light from fire outside and was finally able to see the people inside. Young men were chanting. They were all on the floor and resting. I wondered how they were chanting in that hot air. The Medicine Man was talking to everyone, thanking them for joining the ceremony. He was saying that he is very happy to see many men and women from four different directions such as Asian, Caucasian, African, and native people. His talking continued: If we have only native people here, federal agents will walk into the ceremonial site almost all every time and search for something. They say they are looking for weapons and drugs. Actually they don’t like our gathering and try to arrest me. When agents see other ethnicities in our site from outside of the reservation, they do not do it. They know you are going to talk story outside and spread it. 

The lodge cover was closed and chanting began again. It sounded like they were pulling all sadness out of their bodies. The second round ended and the cover was opened up.

The Medicine Man talked again: In our reservation, we don’t have any polluting factories so our land is very clean as well as the water. White men ask if we are interested selling the water. If we sell the water, our finances will be better. But the mother land is seriously sick. Knowing Mother is sick, we cannot let them put the water pipe into her. We are not going to have the pipe in our mother land. Even if we don’t have the money, we are okay.

I listened and listened. This message sounded like it came from the heavens. Mother land is sick, and knowing she is sick, how can we let them put the pipe into our mother! Just to get more money! I felt like I was listening to one of greatest philosophers and hearing the greatest religious leader. I was thinking, you are a real medicine man. The cover was closed and I don’t remember how I could have done it for all four rounds. I was thinking and thinking: the mother land is sick. The mother land is sick; knowing that she is sick how can we allow them to put the pipe into mother's heart with the exchange of money?

How many of us really know what is going to happen in the Dakota Access oil pipeline? Don’t we understand if we damage the mother land, we are going to suffer from the damage? Don't you know how the climate has been changing and why? We all know what and why this is happening to this earth. It is time to listen to the native people who have been communicating with nature and the mother land. They know how we are all going to survive in the future. If it is damaged, we will see immediately we will have a problem with water. Let’s forget the fossil fuels. Let’s protect mother land and not damage the future any more so Mother can protect her children. We are all children of earth.

Kuk ki won

This is Namsoo Hyong, brother Grandmaster Nam Kwon Hyong, PhD.

Thank you for asking me to be involved.  I am willing to be a part of your movement.

Hopefully together we can create positive results.

In order to achieve this, we need additional research and to create a network that will

work to resolve this issue.

Here's what I have found:

First, Hong, Moon Jong decided to be part of Kuk Ki Won for a few reasons:

1. Kuk Ki Won receives a majority of its money/resources from outside of Korea.

This money is untraceable as there is no accounting or paper trail tracking this

money.  Politicians are aware of this unaccounted flow of money and that it can

be useful for their own purposes.  Kim Un Yong was not only aware of this

money, he actually created a payroll to the Blue House with part of it.

2. Anyone who becomes an officer in Kuk Ki Won knows that he/she will achieve

world fame.

3. Hong Moon Jong aspires to be an officer of the International Olympic Committee

(IOC).

4. He brought Special Forces martial artists into Kuk Ki Won because in general,

Tae Kwon Do Masters at large were not following his instructions.

Secondly, let's look back to who the IOC members from Korea were.

1. Kim Un Yong

2. Moon Dae Sung

3. Finally, the owner of Samsung.

As you can see, Hong Moon Jong seemed to ultimately want to be an IOC member

since it provides fame, power and a large amount of unaccounted money from Kuk Ki

Won and the IOC.

You have filed a letter of complaint and the government may respond as follows:

'I have asked for an investigation.'  OR 'Your complaint has been accepted.'

Unfortunately, this means that your complaint will meet a dead end.  In addition, your

complaint will provide them information on how to better defend their position.

Hong Moon Jong is already aware of all the above information and has prepared for his

defense if it is revealed.

In order to both fight and win, here are some questions we all should consider:

 What are the issues that we can really confront and win?

 What is the ultimate goal?

 What are possible alternative goals if the ultimate goal cannot be realized?

 What are the hidden cards (trump cards that are unforeseen by them) that we

can identify if none of our other efforts are effective?

When I receive these answers, I will discuss the situation with my collegues to create a

strategy that will bring a step by step path to our goal.

Dear fellow Koreans and Korean-Americans,

Dear fellow Koreans and Korean-Americans,

This is Master Hyong. I am very concerned about the Virginia Tech University shooting and people's perception of the Korean community. I have consulted with many Americans and Koreans who have expressed concern to me recently, and I believe that their thoughts must be shared with everyone you can tell. You can send this letter to your listserver or post it to your organization website.

All of us are shocked and overwhelmed by what happened at Virginia Tech University. Many Koreans and Korean-Americans are not sure how to respond, since a Korean student was the shooter. I have received a number of calls from Korea and Champaign-Urbana. Most of them have the same concern that I do. I talked with Professor Gibeom Lee at Sookmyong Women's University to have a wise plan of action. I also asked my instructors and some students and parents how they are viewing the issue.

I received many responses. Of course, I am letting the writers speak anonymously. Some voices say that Americans' view of the shooter is not as a respresentative of Koreans. Rather:

"No one seems to be trying to blame a group and I have not heard anyone badmouthing Koreans because the shooters happened to be Korean."

"I do not believe this has anything to do with the young man being Korean. He was a troubled young man who would have found a reason to act no matter what."

"At this time, I have not heard anything to suggest that the 'Korean' aspect of the student was as much an aspect of this as a disturbed person with easy access to weapons, similar to the Columbine shooters (an earlier incident at a Colorado high school where two 'loners' killed and wounded dozens)."

"... most of the students I talk with have not focused on the issue of the shooters nationality. I think most of my peers aren't labeling him or blaming him and the culture from which he comes as bad or ultimately responsible."

We can see that the American media and public are more focused on the individual, and that the view is very different from Korean media that views his Korean-ness as a shame to us. Americans are looking at issues such as: "How could the college have prevented it?" or "Why is this young man disturbed, and how many others are like him?"

Yet there might be other reactions. I am only getting the response of educated persons who have experienced interactions with Koreans and Korean-Americans. In the recent past we can see how hatred can lead to violence. For example, after 1973, when America removed its soldiers from Vietnam, many Vietnamese "boat people" fleeing Vietnam were beaten to death with baseball bats. In America a year ago, a Hmong man shot at and killed some white American hunters in response to what he described as racial ephitets and violence directed toward him. Two groups came into conflict over perceptions of Hmong men as untrustworthy and lower people, and this had tragic results. In Asia, Japanese young girls were kidnapped by North Korea and they denied it for a long time. North Korea finally admitted that they had Japanese ladies in North Korea to teach the Japanese language, and then some Japanese attacked Koreans in Japan.

Therefore, we must be careful and caring in our responses to the massacre at Virginia Tech. We only know what we hear from the news. First, we must not make accusations or guesses about what happened. If we express our viewpoints in this way, we could give people the wrong idea. When you express feelings or opinions, it is good to be caring. Be sure to send your deepest condolences to everyone you meet. Condolences include "I am sad about what happened," "I have the deepest condolences for the victims," and "I am concerned for the suffering that people around the country is feeling." Now is a good time to ask people - "How are you?" and to mean it and listen. However, we must be careful. We should not use words such as "we" which represents Korea. Also, we should not refer to the attacker as "Korean-American" or "American." We should refer to him as "he," "him," "aggressor," etc. We do not want to lead people to feel that we as a group share anything in common with this person.

In spite of your care for others and your wise speaking, some people may still have prejudice and hatred, and it could come out now. I cannot promise that others will feel the way that the ones I talked to felt. Those people whom I spoke to are well-educated and know Koreans in America. It is important to be alert and aware and to take care of your family against people who do not understand. Do not be alone, take threats seriously, and if you are abused or face threats of abuse, KSA has already released information about who should be contacted.

In conclusion, a lot of Americans have goodwill for Koreans, and the American media and many spokespersons for American institutions are not blaming Koreans. We should not damage this goodwill. We must remember past events, speak with kindness and caring, and know how to deal with the problems we face together.

태권도 원로, 선배, 후배님들 안녕하십니까!

태권도 원로, 선배, 후배님들 안녕하십니까!

형남수 8단 인사 드립니다. 먼저 태권도계의 진보와 발전을 위해 노력을 경주하고 계시는   여러분들께 존경을 담아 저에 대한 간략한 소개를 드리겠습니다. 이어서 다음으로 국기원 사태와 관련된 저의 작은 의견을 감히 피력 드리겠습니다. 부디 너그러우신 여러 태권도 선후배님들의 경청을 부탁 드리겠습니다.

저 형남수 8단은 1964년에 홍종수님의 지도하에 태권도를 수학한 형남권 박사(태권도 9단) 를 통하여 태권도에 입문하여 1969 년 형남권 박사가 미국 일리노이 주립대학교 (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, UIUC) 로 유학가시기 전까지 형남권 박사님 지도하에 태권도를 수련을 하였고, 이후 원청남 관장님의 지도하에 사범생활을 수행하였습니다. 이후 대한민국 육군 3사단에서 태권도를 가르쳤고 병장으로 만기제대하였습니다. 그리고 1980년 미국으로 건너왔습니다. 미국에 정착한 이후에는 형남권 박사와 함께 미국 UIUC 근처 샴페인-어바나 (Champaign-Urbana) 및 사보이 (Savoy) 지역에서 “타인과의 경쟁보다는 육체와 정신단련을 통한 자아실현”에 중점을 둔 교육철학을 바탕으로 도장을 운영하고 있습니다.

이번 국기원사태와 관련된 일련의 사건들은 정치, 사회 및 문화적인 관점으로 보았을 때 절대로 단순한 문제가 아니라는 생각이 듭니다. 이 쟁점은 결국 태권도의 현재와 미래가 달려있는 매우 중요한 사건이며, 고의민 관장님 말씀처럼 우리 사이의 분열과 위기가 아닌 세계 태권도인의 화합, 융합, 진보 및 발전을 도모할 수 있는 기회로 삼아야 할 것이며, 또한 우리의 역사적 저력을 근거로 판단할 때 반드시 그렇게 될 것이라 믿습니다. 저의 작은 의견을 피력하기에 앞서 여러분께서 그간 태권도의 발전을 위하여 노력하신 모든 노고에 감사의 말씀을 드리고, 이번 기회를 통해 저의 작은 의견을 경청해 주시는 모든 태권도관련 원로, 선배 및 미래의 후배님들께 다시 한번 감사의 말씀을 올립니다.

제가 말씀 드리고자 하는 건 3가지입니다.

1.       Challenge(문제의식), 2. Action(문제개선을 위한 활동), 3. Result(목표방향제시)

현재 우리가 문제의식에서는 이미 충분한 문제들을 인지하고 있습니다. 또한 우리는 문제해결을 위한 구제적인 목표에 대해서 충분한 이야기를 할 필요가 있다고 생각하고 있습니다. 그래서 작년에 선배 분들과 제가 청와대에 제기 했던 글을 첨부합니다. (https://grandmasterhyong.blogspot.com/2016/08/blog-post.html)

이번 국기원 사태의 배경에는 해외단체들과 체결한 무분별한 양해 각서 (Memorandum of understanding, MOU)와 한국 내에서 벌어진 단증의 상업화 (월단 매매관련) 논란이 있습니다. 이 논란의 중심에는 과거 및 현재 국기원 원장들의 비정상적이고, 투명하지 못한 국기원 운영체계가 있음을 5대주 태권도 지도자의 성명서 (https://grandmasterhyong.blogspot.com/2016/08/blog-post.html) 에서 지적한 바 있고, 이들의 비전문성과 비도덕성으로 인하여 태권도 정책의 자율성과 독립성이 결여될 수밖에 없게 되었습니다. 잘 알고 계시겠지만 짧게 요약하면 현재 국기원 원장을 맡고 있는 오현득씨는 토지 매매 부정에 연루되어 이등병으로 강등되고 불명예 제대된 사람 (한겨레신문. 1992. 1. 10. 기사 참조) 이며, 앞서 언급한 특별심사제도를 주도한 전력이 있습니다. (한경 bnt뉴스. 2015. 11. 18. 참조). 또한, 태권도의 본산인 국기원을 운영하기 객관적인 운영능력, 경험, 태권도인들에 대한 이해도가 매우 떨어지는 인물입니다.

앞서 설명한 것과 같이, 과거 그리고 현재의 국기원 운영진들은 태권도인들의 신뢰가 아닌 정계인사들과의 음성적 관계를 통하여 지위를 얻어내 세력이라 할 수 있습니다. 따라서 현 오원장을 국기원 외부로 퇴출시킨다고 해도, 결국 과거와 비슷한 인사를 선임함으로써 결국 국기원의 운영은 과거와 같은 행태로 진행될 것이 분명합니다. 따라서 이번 국기원사태를 해결하기 위한 단기적 접근방법과 이번 사태를 계기로 7천만 세계 태권도인들이 존경하고 신뢰하는 국기원으로 성장하기 위한 근본적인 해결책을 제시하고자 합니다.

사회쟁점을 해결하기 위한 접근방법은 상향식 (Bottom-up)과 하향식 (Top-down) 방법이 있습니다. 상향식 방법은 태권도인들의 단결을 통한 일치된 의견을 수렴하여 청와대 및 문화관광부 등과 같은 정부기관에 우리의 의견을 피력, 청원하거나 탄원서를 제출하고, 민주적 시위를 통하여 우리의 의견을 피력하는 방법입니다. 현재까지는 상향식방법을 통해 어느 정도 해결의 실마리를 찾아가고 있는 중이라 생각됩니다. 그러나 저의 다년간의 사회운동경험을 통하여 얻어진 결론은 상향식 방법만으로는 결국 문제의 근본적인 해결을 도출할 수 없음을 자각하였습니다. 이유는 아무리 상향식방법으로 우리의 의견을 피력한다고 해도 정부기관의 내부에서는 직책간, 부서간의 사이에서 통용되는 그들만의 정치적 의사결정방식이 존재합니다. 따라서 정부기관의 고위층인사 및 핵심인사들과의 접촉을 통하여 상부에서 국기원을 압박하여 문제를 해결하는 것이 국기원의 근본적인 개혁을 도모할 수 있는 좋은 해결방법이 될 것입니다. 따라서 우리 태권도인들은 하향식방법과 상향식방법을 병행하여 이번 사태를 해결하는 것이 바람직한 방법론임을 인식하고, 이를 바탕으로 많은 태권도인들의 단결된 동참을 간곡히 요청 드립니다. 또한 다른 시민운동권과 연대를 하는 것도 좋은 방법일 것 갔습니다.

이번 사태를 통하여 이루고자 하는 우리의 소망은 단순히 현 국기원장을 퇴출시키는 것이 아니라 우리의 국기원이 개혁되어 대한민국의 문화자산인 국기 태권도가 세계적 문화자산으로 상찬되는 일을 주도하는 것입니다. 이를 위해서는 구체적인 대안이 있어야 합니다. 그러나 불행히도 다음 국기원 운영진의 결정을 다시 정부에게 맡긴다면 앞서 서술한 것과 같이, 과거의 홍원장, 현재 오원장과 같은 낙하산식 인사가 결정될 것은 자명한 일이고, 우리는 피곤하고 지루한 싸움을 계속해야 할 것입니다. 따라서 저는 우리 세계 태권도인들이 모두 공감하고 존경할 수 있는 인물을 대안으로 제시하여야 된다고 생각합니다. 이 같은 인물은 다음 3가지의 자격요건을 갖추어야 할 것입니다.

첫째, 국기원 개혁 이후의 태권도인들이 추대한 첫 국기원장은 대한민국 국기 태권도의 상징성을 갖고 있습니다. 따라서 대한민국 국적을 보유한 존경 받는 태권도인 이여야 합니다. 이에 더불어 태권도 9단의 상징성을 보유한 인물이어야 합니다.

둘째, 국기원의 원할한 운영의 핵심은 도덕성에 바탕을 둔 누구나 공감할 수 있는 투명한 재정 및 인사 운영경험에 있습니다. 즉, 도덕성과 운영능력을 갖춘 존경 받는 태권도인 이여야 합니다. 이를 위해서는 시스템을 구축한 경험이 있어야 하며, 넓은 범위의 유능한 인재를 두루 포섭할 수 있는 인물이어야 합니다.

셋째, 국기 태권도의 미래는 단순히 한반도에만 머물러 있지 않습니다. 이제는 세계인이 즐길 수 있는 무도뿐만 아니라 예술로써 또한 스포츠로써 태권도가 실현되어야 합니다. 이를 위하여 전세계 태권도인들의 공조와 공감을 얻어낼 수 있는 국제적 감각을 지닌 태권도인이 추대되어야 합니다. 이를 통해 국기원의 국제화를 도모하고, 태권도가 21세기를 넘어서 전파될 수 있는 문화의 아이콘으로 자리매김 할 수 있을 것입니다.

마지막으로 강조하고 싶은 점은 태권도의 본산 국기원의 정상화를 위해서는 우리 태권도인들 사이에서 상대에 대한 맹목적인 비난과 비아냥 보다는 자랑스런 태권도인으로써 명백한 논리와 도덕성을 바탕으로 한 상호간의 의견통합 및 추진력 제고에 있다고 생각합니다. 이번 기회를 통하여 우리 태권도인들의 민주적인 발전을 기대해 봅니다. 또한 국기원의 부패 원인은 국기원의 역할이 한곳에서 독점 되고 있는 것이 문제의 근원이 되고 있습니다.  문대원관장님의 생각은 해외에 국기원과 같은 기관을 설립하여 국기원과 상호 선의의 경쟁 및 감시를 통하여 근원적 문제를 제거하는 것도 저는 좋은 생각인 것 같습니다.  

지금까지 부족한 저의 의견에 대한 여러 원로, 선배 및 후배님들의 부디 너그러운 이해와 의견개진을 부탁 드립니다.

2016년 8월 14일

형남수 8단

일리노이에서 올림.