Team tries tae-kwon-do diplomacy
Mike Brownlee - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Sports
- Page 1 of 1
CEDAR RAPIDS - The intersection of sports and politics is one that has been crossed throughout history.
Jesse Owens' four gold medals against Hitler's Germans in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Tommie Smith and John Carlos holding black gloved fists high in the air on the medal stand in Mexico City in 1968. The U.S. National Table Tennis Team conducting "Ping-Pong diplomacy" during a tour through China in 1971.
Even the 1980 U.S. hockey team raising American spirits by winning the gold medal after knocking off the "unbeatable" Soviet team.
On Oct. 10 in Cedar Rapids, another event was added to the list, as the North Korean National Tae Kwon Do Demonstration Team performed at the Paramount Theatre.
The team's performance was part of a five-city 2007 U.S.A. Goodwill Tour, and while only time will tell if its effect will be as profound as previous mixes of sport and politics, tour sponsor Tae Kwon Do Times magazine hopes it was a step in the direction of peace and understanding between North Korea and the United States.
Based in Cedar Rapids, Tae Kwon Do Times arranged the tour, which began with stops in Los Angeles and San Francisco and will conclude with demonstrations in Louisville, Ky., and Atlanta before the North Koreans head home.
"I think martial arts can help the world," Tae Kwon Do Times Publisher Woo Jin Jung said at the event. As he said in a press release, "The objective of the event is to help establish a peaceful relationship between the U.S. and North Korea through nongovernmental exchange."
While the magnitude of the moment was huge, when the North Korean martial artists took the stage, it wasn't as political actors but simply as individuals demonstrating their tremendous ability at a craft.
During a 50-minute demonstration, the team focused on two aspects of tae kwon do, breaks and and self-defense.
The breaks portions featured the martial artists breaking boards or bricks with kicks and punches. Some highlights included one of the demonstrators jumping over a five-person-wide, three-layer-high human pyramid and breaking a board with a kick and the group's Master Nung Man Pae breaking boards 10, 7, and 5 centimeters thick.
During the self-defense demonstrations, the martial artists engaged in vignettes with the "good guy or woman" using tae kwon do to fend off the "bad guys."
The crowd was thoroughly entertained during the event, as evidenced by a myriad of "oohs," "awes," and applause.
"I heard it was a good show, so I came out," said Bill Johnson, 43, of Cedar Rapids. "I really enjoyed the high kicks, the aerobatics."
Area martial artist Brandon Hass said he enjoyed the precision of the North Korean team's technique.
"The power, the speed, it was impressive," he said. "It was a great show."
The tour was scheduled to occur last year, and also in 1991, but each time, the North Korean team members and their entourage were denied U.S. visas.
"We had a dream, a plan," Jung said. "Finally, for the first time in the United States, the North Korean flag and the U.S. flag together."
E-mail DI reporter Mike Brownlee at:
michael-brownlee@uiowa.edu
Jesse Owens' four gold medals against Hitler's Germans in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Tommie Smith and John Carlos holding black gloved fists high in the air on the medal stand in Mexico City in 1968. The U.S. National Table Tennis Team conducting "Ping-Pong diplomacy" during a tour through China in 1971.
Even the 1980 U.S. hockey team raising American spirits by winning the gold medal after knocking off the "unbeatable" Soviet team.
On Oct. 10 in Cedar Rapids, another event was added to the list, as the North Korean National Tae Kwon Do Demonstration Team performed at the Paramount Theatre.
The team's performance was part of a five-city 2007 U.S.A. Goodwill Tour, and while only time will tell if its effect will be as profound as previous mixes of sport and politics, tour sponsor Tae Kwon Do Times magazine hopes it was a step in the direction of peace and understanding between North Korea and the United States.
Based in Cedar Rapids, Tae Kwon Do Times arranged the tour, which began with stops in Los Angeles and San Francisco and will conclude with demonstrations in Louisville, Ky., and Atlanta before the North Koreans head home.
"I think martial arts can help the world," Tae Kwon Do Times Publisher Woo Jin Jung said at the event. As he said in a press release, "The objective of the event is to help establish a peaceful relationship between the U.S. and North Korea through nongovernmental exchange."
While the magnitude of the moment was huge, when the North Korean martial artists took the stage, it wasn't as political actors but simply as individuals demonstrating their tremendous ability at a craft.
During a 50-minute demonstration, the team focused on two aspects of tae kwon do, breaks and and self-defense.
The breaks portions featured the martial artists breaking boards or bricks with kicks and punches. Some highlights included one of the demonstrators jumping over a five-person-wide, three-layer-high human pyramid and breaking a board with a kick and the group's Master Nung Man Pae breaking boards 10, 7, and 5 centimeters thick.
During the self-defense demonstrations, the martial artists engaged in vignettes with the "good guy or woman" using tae kwon do to fend off the "bad guys."
The crowd was thoroughly entertained during the event, as evidenced by a myriad of "oohs," "awes," and applause.
"I heard it was a good show, so I came out," said Bill Johnson, 43, of Cedar Rapids. "I really enjoyed the high kicks, the aerobatics."
Area martial artist Brandon Hass said he enjoyed the precision of the North Korean team's technique.
"The power, the speed, it was impressive," he said. "It was a great show."
The tour was scheduled to occur last year, and also in 1991, but each time, the North Korean team members and their entourage were denied U.S. visas.
"We had a dream, a plan," Jung said. "Finally, for the first time in the United States, the North Korean flag and the U.S. flag together."
E-mail DI reporter Mike Brownlee at:
michael-brownlee@uiowa.edu
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