sports

A Taekwon-Do demonstration group of the DPRK recently performed demonstrations in Vietnam, evoking enthusiastic response from the audience.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary (March 1) of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Vietnam, the Vietnamese government asked the Taekwon-Do demonstration group of the DPRK to attend the opening ceremony of the traditional martial arts championships held in the country and conduct a demonstration.

Their first demonstration was performed at an international school which is popular for teaching the traditional martial arts of Vietnam.

The principal of the school said that he was pleased to see the Taekwon-Do demonstration of the DPRK at his school and that the school became more famous as the demonstration group performed its first demonstration there.

After watching the demonstration, many students came and asked the members of the demonstration group to teach them Taekwon-Do, saying the martial art was really appealing and powerful.

The following day, the demonstration group staged another exhibition at the opening ceremony of the championships held in splendour.

As soon as the performance began, the stadium was filled with excitement.

The deputy director of the cultural, sports and tourism department of a Vietnamese state said that he could feel strength from Taekwon-Do and it was a very strong and powerful demonstration as befits the powerful country DPRK. He lavished praise on the demonstration group, saying that they gave the Vietnamese a fresh understanding of Taekwon-Do.

The chairman of the Vietnamese martial arts association said: Today's demonstration looked like an actual combat. All the elements have profound content and the movements are wonderful and powerful. Your splendid Taekwon-Do demonstration really deserves praise.

The demonstration fired the local people with immense enthusiasm for Taekwon-Do and reached its climax at Hanoi university of physical education the following day.

A demonstrator broke a 10cm-thick pine board with a kick and split another board at the height of three metres by turning kick with his eyes blindfolded. The movement was so unbelievable that many people came and checked the broken boards and the blindfold with admiration.

What surprised them more was that Ha Kum Nam, who had been injured in the previous item of the performance, perfectly executed a movement of hammering his foot on roofing tiles.

Then the whole audience burst into deafening cheers.

The president of the university said that he would like to establish a Taekwon-Do course at his university and expressed his gratitude to the members of the Taekwon-Do demonstration group for staging the wonderful exhibition on behalf of the university.

The vice-minister of culture, sports and tourism of Vietnam said: I was told that there is an over 50-year-old instructor in the group and he is very great. I keenly felt that the Taekwon-Do of the DPRK is really excellent. The remarkable progress in Taekwon-Do in our country is attributable to the DPRK that sent us its instructors for assistance. I hope that the Korean Taekwon-Do Committee would dispatch its excellent coaches and instructors to our country and help our players practise Taekwon-Do in the DPRK. If I were young, I would like to learn Taekwon-Do.

The martial arts experts of the university who analysed in detail a video of the Taekwon-Do demonstration expressed their unanimous view that Taekwon-Do is really a scientific martial art which is correct, powerful and reasonable in all movements and expressed their will to closely cooperate with the Korean Taekwon-Do Committee.