On June 26, 2004 at the Opening Ceremony of the 35th Songam Taekwondo World Championship held in Little Rock, Arkansas, Soon Ho Lee, Grandmaster of American Taekwondo Association, officially announced that American Taekwondo Association (ATA) will hold one of its world championships in Korea in mid-April 2005. The mega taekwondo event will be partially sponsored by the Korea National Tourism Organization, who has tried to attract an ATA championship to Korea, the birthplace of taekwondo, for many years. ATA expects that more than one thousand people, including competitors and their families, from 16 countries around the world, will participate in the event.

The 2005 ATA Championship in Korea will be held for seven days in April and a venue will be selected through examination of proposals from local governments interested in hosting the event. Competition among the local governments to host the event is expected to be strong, because of socio-cultural as well as the economic effects from the event. The Taekwondo Championship is anticipated to emphasize Korea’s image as a sport event venue as well as boosting the local convention industry. Industry officials expect the event to generate tourism receipt of at least 2.3 million dollars.

The American Taekwondo Association (ATA), based in Little Rock Arkansas, is the premier North American organization dedicated to the martial arts discipline of taekwondo, and is the founding organization of other international affiliates that include the World Traditional Taekwondo Union (WTTU) and the Songahm Taekwondo Federation (STF). Counting both the U.S. and worldwide, the organizations oversee over 1,500 schools and clubs, and has register more than 300,000 individual members. For more information about this event, contact the Korea National Tourism Organization at 800/TOUR-KOREA.