To the world of ITF,
As you may already know, about a week ago our founder and former President of the federation, my master and mentor, Grand Master Han Sam Soo, has passed away. His health has taken an abrupt u-turn and ultimately failed despite receiving treatment in the process. We lost a great leader, pioneer, visionary and I have lost a master, mentor and instructor. In 2006, I had the honour to be introduced to TaeKwon-Do by my buddy Jongwoo, initially taught by his son Master Han, whom we looked up to because of our age difference. We could relate similar experiences and his words were of invaluable wisdom. Later on, Grand Master Han took his place and our classes have become more intense and the training routine at times felt like an eternity. We have eventually adapted to his teaching style and we all enjoyed sweating, the out of breaths and the soju we had together from time to time.
Grand Master Han devoted nearly his entire life into TaeKwon-Do. His contribution along with many of the pioneers, both senior and junior to him and the masters and grand masters that followed have evolved TaeKwon-Do into a worldwide martial art. TaeKwon-Do has transcended borders regardless of the country’s political regimes and influenced millions of TaeKwon-Do practitioners like myself in pursuing a happier, healthier and safer life.
About two years ago, Grand Master Han discussed with me regarding his vision to recreate the original ITF in the name of LITF. He wanted to emphasize the equilibrium between Life and TaeKwon-Do, hence the name LITF. This vision, as we have continuously promoted in our social media channels, was to reunite the ITF and return to the roots of General Choi’s ideology, philosophy and teaching. One of General Choi’s last wishes was to reunite North and South Korea as one Korea, which he was born under.
During this past year and a half, we attracted quality member dojang and association owners from all over the world. Virtually all of them desired pure TaeKwon-Do and no politics. This federation has demonstrated the ability to do just that. Before his condition worsened, the founder of LITF emphasized on having a democratic system in the federation. He instructed me to establish an executive board that would continue building a strong foundation for the better of LITF and TaeKwon-Do’s future. Grand Master Han further iterated we must always listen to every member in the entire board (executive & non-executive board).
Since the establishment of the executive board, we have pushed for a Presidential election where our members would decide by voting for the new President. The result was that we have elected Grand Master Dr Steve Ng Hong Aik from Malaysia as our second President of LITF. We believe as a collective we will take LITF to further heights not only to honour and remember Grand Master Han but to fulfill his dream of a peaceful and united world. This federation will continue operating based on Grand Master Han and General Choi’s vision.
Sincerely,
Matthew Tang
Secretary General of LITF
Lifetime student of Grand Master Han Sam Soo
