Orginial ITF Path

Dear Colleagues,

Do we need an ELECTION to HONOR our beloved Founder’s last wishes? If so, it is a big insult to our Founder. When the Founder was alive, his words were the law. No one argued about the constitution or democracy with him. We just followed his guidance. We believed in his words and wisdom, because he is the Founder. When General Choi appointed his son as the successor, there were some individuals, who disliked his son but said “YES SIR”. Now General Choi has gone. These same individuals deny the Founder’s last wishes. It looks like they only gave him lip service. We have been following our beloved Founder for the past decades. Before our Founder’s departure he had delivered his last wishes. He pointed out the PATH for us to continue toward a positive and bright future. Remember, we are not supporting any particular individual or country. There are no races, ideologies or religions in General Choi’s TaeKwon-Do philosophy. General Choi said after his time the next ITF President would not need to be an expert in TaeKwon-Do. This person must be a talented leader and must possess great organizational skills. We are only continuing our Founder’s path. We honor his last wishes. We have been following this path for many years. This true path has to be continued by many generations to come. If we believe in our Founder and have a faithful respect for him, we should unite all our brother/sisterhood by gathering our synergy and making General Choi’s dreams come true.

Without General Choi’s blessing and teaching Grand Masters, Masters and Instructors like you and I would not exist today. General Choi has gone. He cannot correct some individuals’ wrongful actions anymore. Is there any difference between what some individuals are doing now and what those who betrayed General Choi did before he died? I would like to refresh your memory about the incidents that happened in both Rimini (the last World Championship’s Congress, July 2001) and Vienna (the Special Congress, January 2002). Our Founder was so upset and very sad. Everyone was very angry about these incidents. That was why we cannot tolerate such behaviors toward our utmost respected Legendary Founder. It looks like some individuals are changing their standings and repeating the same behaviors against our beloved Founder. Where is your conscience?

Let’s review the events that occurred after the departure of our beloved Founder.

June 15, 2002, our beloved Founder General Choi Hong Hi passed away

July 06th 2002, the ITF Executives and C-Council members visited General Choi’s widow. She re-confirmed the last words of General Choi. She requested the ITF Board of Directors to carry out and fulfill her husband’s last wishes immediately without delay. General Choi did ask her to do this a few moments before he departed from this world. Mr. Russell MacLellan failed to implement the last wishes of General Choi. He did not call for a Special Congress to implement the last wishes of our Founder. He suggested we wait until the next Congress’s election in Poland. There should not be any election for Presidency. If we respect General Choi, we should just have a Special Congress and carry out our faithful respect to the Founder and make his last wishes come true. We should announce to the world that Mr. Chang Ung is the ITF President. Folowing Mr. Chang Ung’s term, we can proceed with an election. This is our Founder’s last request. We at least owe him this. General Choi had a great vision. He wanted two TKDs as one. Mr. Chang Ung has the connection and the ability. We should give him the opportunity to prove himself and support him to carry out General Choi’s last wishes and dreams.

AUGUST 2002, Mr. Chang Ung visited the I.O.C. President in Belgium as an IOC member. He dropped by to visit ITF Head Office in Vienna. Mr. Chang Ung requested a courtesy meeting with Master Tom MacCallum. Master MacCallum did not show his hospitality. Mr. Chang Ung is a friend of our Founder and a hand picked successor. I believe a minimum courtesy should have been made by the ITF staff in Vienna. Furthermore, Mr. Chang Ung was not elected as ITF President at that time. He told Master MacCallum that in the past ten years with the request of our Founder, he always presented himself as the IOC member whenever he met with IOC Officials, that including the WTF President Dr. Un Yong Kim. During Mr. Chang Ung’s stay in Vienna he made a courtesy telephone call to Mr. Russell MacLellan to clarify the misunderstanding. Mr. Chang Ung confirmed to Mr. Russell MacLellan that he was not the President yet and that he always presented himself as an IOC member when he met with Dr. Kim and the IOC President. He invited Mr. Russell MacLellan to Korea for the 100th General Choi’s memorial service.

SEPTEMBER 02 2002, a letter of Mr. Russell MacLellan was sent out to members to accuse Mr. Chang Ung of using the title of ITF President. A copy was sent to WTF President Dr. Kim without the approval of the ITF Board. This letter was faxed back to Mr. Chang Ung by Dr. Kim. This action created another negative feeling. NO NGBs know about this fact. By this time, $8000 US cash was given to Mr. Russell MacLellan by Master Tom MacCallum as salary. This salary was never approved of by or mentioned by the ITF Board. Furthermore, this $8000 Cash was from the Italy’s certificates fees. By law, this $8000 Cash should have been deposited to the ITF account. Mr. Russell MacLellan is a lawyer, he should have known better than that.

SEPTEMBER 20 2002, a letter by Mr. Russell MacLellan was sent out to all ITF NGBs. This most disturbing letter asked ALL NGBs to boycott our most beloved Founder Gen. Choi’s 100th day MEMORIAL SERVICE. The reason for this letter was because Mr. Russell MacLellan accused Mr. Chang Ung of acting as the ITF President despite the conversation where Mr. Chang Ung already explained the misunderstanding to Mr. Russell MacLellan over the phone. This really shocked all the NGBs especially the 46 countries who attended the service. Emotions were running high. A sad day was made worse by this disrespectful act toward the General Choi and his family. At this memorial time 43 member countries after discussions among themselves and the members of the Korean TKD committee, proposed a Special Congress to HONOR General Choi’s last wishes. This Special Congress was approved by the C-Council and the ITF Executive Committee which included the 3 Vice-Presidents as well as members of the Board of Directors who had learned about the letter which Mr. Russell MacLellan had sent to Dr. Kim, the WTF President, and the cash he received illegally from Master Tom MacCallum. Mr.Chang Ung was named as the New ITF President at this Special Congress. One of the last wishes of our beloved Founder came true.

OCTOBER 2002, after the return of Master Tom MacCallum to the ITF Head Office in Vienna there were many illegal occurrences.

NOVEMBER 15 2002, Mr. Russell MacLellan expressed his discontent with Master Tom MacCallum’s behaviour. He stated he no longer wanted to fight for Presidency of ITF. He told this to Mr. Chang Ung and gave him a free hand to chair the ITF Board of Director’s meeting scheduled for the following day. This was reconfirmed by the Chairman of the C-Council, Master Leong Wei Meng in his letter addressed to all members of the ITF.

NOVEMBER16 2002, ITF Board of Directors held a meeting at the Head Office in Vienna in which they resolved to expel Master Tom MacCallum from the ITF for immoral behaviour and violation of Austrian law. Mr. Russell MacLellan wanted to negotiate a settlement for Master Tom MacCallum after hearing he was expelled from ITF. But after Mr. Russell MacLellan returned to Canada he posted a letter on www.ITFGeneralChoi.com and signed it as “President”, showing in this way that his decisions did not adhere to the morality of the ITF. We all were upset about this. He broke up the unity of ITF.
Also in the Board of Directors meeting, Mr. Chang Ung still insisted the 12th World TKD Championship would be held in Poland. He stressed that if POLAND did not honor General Choi’s last wishes then we would have no choice but to select another country. At this time Master Benny Rivera gave a speech. He invited Mr. Chang Ung to attend the Junior World Championship to be held in Puerto-Rico. He presented a gift, the World Championship medal, to Mr. Chang Ung. Mr. Chang Ung was happy. He asked everyone to support the Junior Championship. That was why I sent my students to support this event as did many other countries. Master Hwang Jin, the Chief Instructor in Japan, did not agree with Master Benny Rivera’s new point of view which was contrary to his actions in Vienna. We felt that the Junior World Championships was our junior Black Belt’s show. These young competitors should not be involved in politics. That is the reason he still sent the Japanese team to attend the event.

For the Masters and Instructors who have temporarily strayed away from the original path, please think twice which PATH you should follow and support; the path which leads to betrayal or the path which we have followed for the past few decades. The true path is that which our Founder had shown us with great wisdom and great vision for the future of Taekwon-Do before his departure. You can contribute your part to balance the leadership and the future of ITF and TAEKWON-DO. UNITY is the Key. If you have your own vision, you must create your own martial art. Don’t use General Choi’s legacy for your own ambitions and personal advantage. This is his art, his desire. History will not forgive nor forget you.
Thank you for your listening.

Yours in TaeKwon-Do,

Phap Lu

* To the Instructors around the world. You are the next generation. We need to hear about your constructive opinions. Please contact me atphaplu@rogers.com

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