From: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: the_dojang-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #243 Reply-To: the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: the_dojang-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: The_Dojang-Digest Tues, 17 April 2001 Vol 08 : Num 243 In this issue: the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #241 the_dojang: Re: eliminating kicking to the head the_dojang: Student Stuff the_dojang: Kim Il-sung the_dojang: Need an instructor the_dojang: . ========================================================================= The_Dojang, serving the Internet since June 1994. ~1111 members strong! Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource The premier internet discussion forum devoted to the Korean Martial Arts. Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe the_dojang-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use the_dojang@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Korean Martial Arts (KMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of The_Dojang at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Pil Seung! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Chereecharmello@aol.com Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 11:52:20 EDT Subject: the_dojang: Re: The_Dojang-Digest V8 #241 <> << There seems to be a lot of differences of opinion as to which techniques > most often score in tournaments. If it is kicks or punches, straight kicks > or circular? I was wondering what DD members think is the top 10 scoring > techniques. >><> I would say it depends on the ideology of those judging. I have seen inch-from-the-cheekbone round kicks NOT be called as a point. I have also seen clear reverse punches NOT be called. It's subjective, I suppose. ------------------------------ From: "Mark M. Smith" Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 12:14:28 -0400 Subject: the_dojang: Re: eliminating kicking to the head John, Thank you for posting this information. Find my reply to the survey below. Also, please remember that my comments are in the realm of the current USTU junior sparring rules, while I would like to hear how other organizations handle head attacks, remember the philosophy driving the rules is probably very different. At 10:29 AM 4/17/2001 -0400, you wrote: >There is a motion before the USTU board of governers to eliminate kicks to the >head for juniors, ages 13 and below. If you have an opinion on this you can >express yourself on the USTU's online survey: I am a USTU Referee, Junior Coach and parent of a Junior competitor. Although kicks to the head can be problematic in junior competition, I do not believe the answer lies in eliminating them. If kicks to the head were eliminated then in a few years or less you would see junior competitors sparring with their arms wrapped around the scoring areas of their chest protectors. Since they would not have to worry about head kicks they could almost completely cover the scoring areas, eliminating almost every chance of their opponent scoring. This reminds me of a youth hockey game I watched. The goalie lay down in the goal mouth completely covering the opening. Since the kids, age 5, could not yet lift the puck, it was impossible for them to score. We do not want to be training our junior competitors to "lay down in the goal mouth." This just ingrains bad habits, without advancing their sparring technique or skills. Imagine the 14 year old black belt competitor at junior nationals who has competed for 6 years with no head kicks and is now facing a 17 year old in a match that allows knockout kicks to the head. Mark M. Smith Merrimack, NH ------------------------------ From: "Bruce Sims" Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 12:45:32 -0500 Subject: the_dojang: Student Stuff Dear Rudy: This may sound a bit out of Left Field, but I am still chewing on that Post you sent last month about the criteria for naming anyone as an individuals’ instructor. At first glance it seems like such an easy question, but delving under the surface a bit and suddenly everything gets murky very quickly. The first problem I had was the basis for comparison. Is the question you asked presented in the context of the traditional relationship between student teacher? Are we talking about a relationship based on mentoring and lasting for years? Or are you speaking in terms of the modern seminar-based education which is most often a relationship based on the health of ones’ wallet and cash flow? The second problem I had is related to the first problem. If, in fact you are speaking of a long-lived mentoring is this generally what the present-day practitioners support? Judging from the typical responses in any given edition, it sounds to me as though current Hapkido practitioners find it easy to talk about conservative MA beliefs but in practice they fear accountability. In practice it seems that people need “wiggleroom” to work their way out of the places their misrepresentation gets them into. So I guess to respond to your question I need to know if you are speaking of integrity as it is traditionally characterized or as it is presently practiced? Then in hand with this I would want to know if you are speaking of a “talk” people want to “talk”, or a “walk” people intend to “walk”. We can be labor-like scholars regarding the deportment of others or we can hitch up our pants and be about the matter of preparing our art to be received by the next generation. In either case I think I could use a bit more clarification, and people reading this willing need to agree to do without that wiggleroom. Then I might be able to frame an actual answer. Best Wishes, Bruce W Sims www.midwesthapkido.com ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 15:52:15 PDT Subject: the_dojang: Kim Il-sung Kim Il-Sung's Big Brother Cult Survives in N.Korea By Bill Tarrant KOSONG, North Korea (Reuters) - You know you've arrived in Big Brother country as the tourist ferry steams into port and carved into a mountain face visible for miles are the words: ''Long Live the Great Politics'' of Kim Il-sung. Seven years after his death, the cult of ``Great Leader'' Kim Il-sung, North Korea's founding father and the 20th century's longest serving ruler, is alive and well in the communist totalitarian state. Immigration officials who stamp the special visas of the foreign and South Korean tourists visiting North Korea's Kumgang (Diamond) mountains all wear the prized Kim Il-sung lapel pin, the badge of a true loyalist and devotee. In their offices, pictures of Kim Il-sung -- named ``eternal president'' in 1998 by the Supreme People's Assembly -- and his son and successor, Kim Jong-il, hang side by side. Portraits of Kim the father and son are hung in every home and workplace and for years North Koreans began and ended their day bowing to the images. The fabled Kumgang mountain range, not far from the Demilitarized Zone that has separated the two Koreas for half a century, is the only place in the North that South Korean tourists are allowed to visit. Along the carefully guided treks into the snow-streaked mountains are marble slabs describing a hike Kim Il-sung once took with his wife and the wisdom he imparted on those spots. Similar markers can be seen throughout North Korea. Carved into boulders and on the sides of slopes are paeans to the Great Leader. It is the only graffiti permitted. A list of do's and don'ts says ``writing or drawing on the rocks and trees is not allowed.'' Minders are stationed along the trekking routes to enforce the rules and mete out fines for such offences as spitting, urinating, smoking, collecting wildlife or ``carrying forbidden articles or materials.'' They are well-dressed and chat amiably with visitors as long as the subject doesn't touch politics or economics. They get visibly disturbed if photographed. That's also not allowed. The program includes a bus tour that winds past collective farms to a seaside vista at the base of the Kumgang massif. Safari Park Tour Barbed wire fences line both sides of the road. And while the villages are prosperous by North Korean standards, they offer a revealing glimpse into North Korea's ``Workers Paradise.'' One starts to get the feeling of being on a safari park tour. Apparently it is not an uncommon impression. ``Please don't throw food out the window to them,'' our tour guide, Han Jun-il, interjects as we pass a schoolyard with waving children. ``The North Koreans don't like it. They say it makes them feel like they're in a zoo.'' North Korea has suffered famine-like conditions since 1995, shortly after Kim Il-sung died of a coronary at 82, and relies on international charities to feed its 22 million people. The one-story farmhouses are white-washed adobe with cement tiled roofs -- a notable achievement, as thatched roofs are the norm in many parts of rural Asia. Two or more families share homes with no indoor plumbing. Tin stovepipe chimneys indicate the means of cooking and heating. The scene is reminiscent of a period film of a century ago -- no billboards, neon and few mechanical implements. Nobody is riding vehicles. We saw only one small tractor after passing a number of hamlets. Even bicycles are scarce. People mostly walk. Farm animals are also few and far between. We saw only one mangy-looking cow on splayed legs. Village entrances are dominated by posters and murals of Kim Il-sung, often talking to children. During his 46 years in power, Kim created a personality cult far exceeding that of Josef Stalin or Mao Zedong. He toured incessantly, offering guidance on every subject imaginable. He was worshipped as a cult leader in a country that outlawed religion, and established a cradle-to-crave welfare state that aims to provide everybody with a job, housing, food, medical care, education, consumer goods and the clothes on their backs. Orwell Could Not Have Imagined ``Even George Orwell could not have imagined this world,'' said a Western diplomat once based there, referring to ``1984,'' a fictional account of a state ruled by an omniscient ``Big Brother'' and published when Kim ll-sung founded North Korea in 1948. Almost certainly no North Korean has read the book. According to accounts from defectors, even the educated are unfamiliar with Shakespeare, let alone other great works of Western literature. Kim Il-sung's 27 volumes of teachings form the core curriculum of the education system. Ahead of his birth anniversary on April 15, a major holiday known as ``Sun Day,'' the official media have urged the masses ''to deeply study and grasp his revolutionary history and live and fight as befitting his soldiers and disciples.'' Kim Jong-il has inherited the power if not the popularity of his father, despite the best efforts of the state's propaganda machine, which now refers to him as the ``Great Leader.'' Kim Jong-il rules as chairman of the National Defense Commission. But official decrees are still signed in the name of the eternal president, South Korean intelligence officials say. North Korea has the look of a garrison state. Soldiers can be seen standing at the entrance to dirt roads and around villages, peering into tour buses to make sure nobody is snapping pictures. Taking pictures of North Koreans and their villages -- not to mention anything that might look like a military installation -- is forbidden. Far more than his father, Kim Jong-il has brought the army to the fore of North Korea life through his ``Army First Politics.'' Many soldiers appear to be teenagers. Able-bodied men begin eight-year compulsory military service between 16 and 18. Though last winter was hard and a severe grains shortage is expected again this year, there is no evidence of grinding poverty here. The state has apparently succeeded in giving everybody a minimum subsistence living. But even Oun Joung-ni, the main village in an area the regime is showcasing, was dark at nightfall, with only an occasional candle seen flickering in a window. North Korea's chronic energy crisis has left most places without reliable power and the government is trying to negotiate electricity aid from the South. Their plight elicited little sympathy from some tourists. ''We shouldn't give them electricity until Kim Jong-il apologizes,'' said a 46-year-old office worker in Seoul. ``He's a terrorist.'' Kim Jong-il is blamed for masterminding the mid-air bombing of a Korean Air jet in 1987 that killed all 115 people aboard and for a 1983 bombing in Myanmar that killed four South Korean cabinet ministers. Embracing Reunification He is due to come to Seoul this year to reciprocate last June's groundbreaking summit in Pyongyang with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Yet the South Koreans on this tour seem to wholeheartedly embrace the idea of reunification, even if for reasons that might make the North uncomfortable. ``We have too many people on too little land in the South,'' said 76-year-old Kim Kyung-il. Another tourist, Lee Shoon-hee, cited the need to reunite families divided since the 1950-53 Korean War. About one in seven people in the two Koreas have relatives on the other side of the world's most militarized frontier. A unified Korea would be less vulnerable in a region where the strategic interests of China, Japan, Russia and the United States are entwined, she said. ``So many families have relatives on the other side that they've never seen...and secondly, it would maker a bigger and stronger country if the people came together. It needs to be strong ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 18:26:51 PDT Subject: the_dojang: Need an instructor Forwarded message: From: "The Academy" Maybe you can help! We own a dojang in Naples , FLorida and are looking for a main instructor. It is a great opportunity for the right person. Please let me know if you can help. Richard Joudrey Check out our school here www.martialartsacademy.tv ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2001 18:27:52 PDT Subject: the_dojang: . ------------------------------ End of The_Dojang-Digest V8 #243 ******************************** It's a great day for Taekwondo! Support the USTU by joining today. US Taekwondo Union, 1 Olympic Plaza, Ste 104C, Colorado Spgs, CO 80909 719-578-4632 FAX 719-578-4642 ustutkd1@aol.com http://www.ustu.org To unsubscribe from the_dojang-digest send the command: unsubscribe the_dojang-digest -or- unsubscribe the_dojang-digest your.old@address in the BODY (top line, left justified) of a "plain text" e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com. Copyright 1994-2001: Ray Terry and Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply.