Lee Seng-wan is President and Kim Un-Yong is Honorary Chairman of the Kukkiwon

Posted by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , Feb. 21, 2010

While catching up on news about Olympic Tae Kwon Do, I recently read that former Korean godfather Lee Seng-wan is now President of the Kukkiwon, headquarters of world Taekwondo. This is extraordinary, as he was involved in many criminal activities, including an incident in 1987.

Thugs attack democracy party in 1987. Photo is from a Korean news site.

In 1987, under a South Korean dictatorship, Lee Seng-Wan was the godfather of a gang hired by Korean politicians to attack a democratic party. Fifty hoodlums, backed by the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), descended on twenty meetings, destroying furniture and attacking people with clubs. Korean media extensively covered the story. Lee Seng-Wan (also spelled Seung Wan and Sung Wan) had been a national sparring champion in the 1960s and had become head of the Jidokwan, one of the nine gyms that had formed Kim Un-Yong's World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Lee was sentenced to 1.5 years in prison for his role in the 1987 attack -- called the Yongpal Incident.

In 2003, Lee was again sentenced to years in prison, this time for being part of an effort to prevent people from voting in a Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) presidential election. The plan involved bribing officials and hiring 300 gangsters and Taekwondo experts to disrupt the meeting. The scandal was widely covered in the Korean media. For an English version of one article, click here. The BBC also covered the story.

When you consider that only black belts certified by the Kukkiwon can participate in the Olympics and that the Kukkiwon collects fees for advanced black-belt promotions (a lucrative business), Lee's appointment is eye-opening. He's also president of Mooto and Culture Maker, a global empire that sells official WTF uniforms, gear and products.

In this photo from Lee's website, he names Kim Un-young (on right) as Honorary Chairman of the Kukkiwon in Nov. 2009. Kim began Olympic Taekwondo in the early 1970s when he was a leader in the brutal KCIA and ended his career in prison in 2005 for embezzlement.

Given these recent appointments in the Kukkiiwon, I've decided not to go for my WTF black-belt test and have opted for drinking large amounts of Scotch while tracking news from Lee and Kim. Good luck to those involved with the spooky Kukki.