In the Pan American Taekwondo Union (PATU) election, which is about to elect the president, an unfair dispute is rising. This is because a specific candidate who applied for the presidential nomination was not accepted as a candidate without providing a justifiable reason for disqualification.

In September of last year, the former president of the PATU, Ji Ho Choi, suddenly announced his resignation. Former Chairman Ji-ho Choi announced that he was resigning because his tenure was effectively over with one year before the Olympics, but the analysis dominated the analysis that the actual reason for President Choi's announcement of his resignation was something else. There was a problem with the operation of the alliance. However, there was no official announcement from the PATU or the World Taekwondo Federation, and the PATU has operated the federation by appointing Vice President Helder Navarro as the acting president.

And now, a year has passed, and the PATU is preparing for an election to elect its president and executive members through an online general meeting on October 9th.

The focus of attention was on who would become president of the PATU. People mentioned as candidates include PATU Secretary General Rick Shin, World Taekwondo Federation Executive Committee member Inseon Kim, and former Mexican President Juan Manuel Lopez Delgado.

Among them, Inseon Kim and Manuel Delgado actually ran as candidates for the PATU and were announced as candidates through the Election Commission. However, although Secretary-General Rick Shin applied as a candidate for president, the Election Commission did not accept Rick Shin 's support. Currently, the PATU's election management is under the responsibility of the Pan Am Federation Interim Management Committee (IMC).

Then, why didn't the IMC accept Rick Shin as a candidate for the Pan Am president election? This is where the doubts begin.

On July 31, three days after the Tokyo Olympics, PATU Secretary General Rick Shin, who returned from participating in the Tokyo Olympics, received an official letter from the Intergity Committee (Chairman Jean-Loop Chaplet) of the World Taekwondo Federation. It was intended to temporarily suspend the position of the Secretary-General. The reason is that, despite the fact that former Chairman Ji-ho Choi had to operate the Pan Am Federation as a non-profit organization, he established a separate for-profit corporation representing himself, which is no different than a private company, and has been running the PATU competitions and operations through this organization. There are suspicions that hundreds of thousands of dollars were not accounted for in the process. And because Rick Shin, who was then secretary-general at the time, was also responsible for the allegations, it was stated that the executives of all Pan Am federations, including Secretary-General Rick Shin and Acting President Navarro, would be suspended from work.

After this announcement, the World Taekwondo Federation established the Pan Am Federation Interim Management Committee (IMC) and has been in charge of the future operation of the Pan Am Federation.

Then, during the Pan Am League candidate application period, Rick Shin announced to the Management Committee (IMC) in charge of election management that he would apply as a candidate for president. , he answered that he could accept him as a candidate, but that he should not campaign.

Rick Shin made a statement that he couldn't accept it, and he was eventually removed from the PATU election nomination.

Rick Shin

Rick Shin strongly opposed this and publicly announced his position, and he expressed his intention to hire a lawyer to respond to unfair treatment.

What is controversial here is the inappropriate response of the Interim Management Committee (IMC), which is in charge of managing the elections. The IMC did not reveal any faults in the official letter sent to Rick Shin, but because the investigation was ongoing, he was accepted only as a candidate and restricted from running an election. This cannot but be called an unfair election. Rather, if you answered that you are not qualified as a candidate, you can see that there is a reason for it.

What is important is whether the IMC's judgment was really the IMC's own judgment. The IMC consists of three members: Ivan Dibos, Hoss Rafaty, and Sharon Jewell. Among them, Ivan Dibos is an IOC member with a close relationship with the WT, Hoss Rafaty is the WT Secretary General, and Sharon Jewell is an American former Olympic Taekwondo athlete.

With regard to whether or not to accept the candidate for the presidential election, which will determine the future of the PATU, was all the decisions made by the will of these three members? Especially when it comes to political issues like whether or not to accept Rick Shin as a candidate.

Moreover, one of the candidates for this election, candidate Inseon Kim, is known to have a close relationship with WT President Chungwon Choue. In particular, candidate Inseon Kim graduated from the Department of Taekwondo at Kyunghee University in Korea, and it is a fact that many taekwondo person knows that President Chungwon Choue was the president of Kyunghee University.

Therefore, it is known that some aides to President Chungwon Choue, who were concerned that there could be unnecessary misunderstandings ahead of the Pan Am League election, advised special attention to this election. Among them, it is known that there was even advice that Kim In-sun's candidacy was not appropriate. Despite this, Candidate Inseon Kim ran for office, and Secretary-General Rick Shin, who was expected to be a strong competitor, was not accepted as a candidate.

There is a Korean proverb that says, 'Do not change your shoes in the cucumber field, and do not change your hat under the apple tree'. This means that situations that could be misunderstood should be avoided even if this is not the case.

Hoss Rafaty, secretary-general of the WT, a major member of the IMC, not have reported to the governor Chungwon Choue regarding this matter? Did President Chungwon Choue and President Hoss Rafaty not discuss this issue?

If there is really no discussion, it cannot but be said that it is a problem in itself, and if such a result is obtained even after discussion, it cannot but be said that it is a bigger problem.

Fair Taekwondo is not a value that should be pursued only in the arena.

<Inside Taekwondo Jean S. Park>