8
Kevin: Taekwondo, the Korean Art of Self-Defense
8 Kim, Sang-eun: What
Symbolizes Korea
Kevin: Taekwondo,
the Korean Art of Self-Defense
Taekwondo is a
traditional military art. Perhaps most people who live in Korea have learned
it. Of course, I had also learned it for a year. At present, there are many
symbols of my nation, but I select Taekwondo without hesitation, because it is
the only formal item in the Olympic games which originated in Korea. It is
spread over many countries. In Taekwondo, various colors of the belt represent
a skill level. For example, there are white, yellow, blue, red, and black belts
from low to high level. Also, the white color associated with Taekwondo means
that Korean people are pure and do not attack the other party without reason.
However, the most important reason why I consider Taekwondo to be the symbol of
Korea is because it uses Korean, as you saw during the Olympic games. For
instance, when the game starts or stops, a judge uses "시작"
or "그만". For these
reasons, Taekwondo represents Korea, and we must try to develop it.
Kim, Sang-eun: What Symbolizes Korea
Everywhere in the
world, Taekwondo reminds people of other countries of Korea. Since the end of
the Korean war, Taekwondo has been spreading in the world and people have begun
to enjoy playing it. A few years ago, it was just an exhibition game at the
Olympics, but it has been finally adopted as a formal item in the Sydney
Olympics this year. The white uniform of Taekwondo originated from the fact
that our ancestors always wore white clothes. As it were, white is the
traditional color of Korea. We can recognize how good someone is at Taekwondo
by the belt which is blue, white, red, and black. If someone passes a promotion
test, the belt is changed. A person who is the best at Taekwondo can wear a
black belt.