4-party MOU signed to promote health, happiness, peace for disadvantaged people

By Seok-jae Kang
Vice President, Asia Journalists Association

KOLKATA, India – A four-party memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed to promote health, happiness and peace for the mankind, especially the disadvantaged people, including refugees, orphans, the disabled and the elderly in a ceremony in Kolkata, India on February 8, 2024.

The four parties are the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF Asia), the Roy’s Taekwondo Academy, the Seoul Hangung Association, and the Seoul Society of Dowsers.

In the ceremony, which was held at the Nazrul Tirtha Center in New Town of Kolkata, the MOU was inked by Kang Dae-geun, president of THF Asia; Master Pradipta Kumar Roy, secretary general of the Roy’s Taekwondo Academy; and Dr. Seok-jae Kang, president of the Seoul Hangung Association and the Seoul Society of Dowsers.

The signing ceremony was held on the occasion of the 2024 Indo-Korean Taekwondo Cultural Festival, which kicked off on February 7 for a three-day run in Kolkata. With the attendance of Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose, the 1st chairperson of LOKPAL and Rev. Srimat Swami Suvirananda Maharaj, secretary general of Ramakrishna Math & Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math, the 2024 event featured an international awarding ceremony, a world taekwondo fashion show, a business interactive session on the industrialization of taekwondo, a lunar New Year celebration, and an Indian cultural show, as well as taekwondo education and training sessions.

The Roy’s Taekwondo Academy and the GCS International West Bengal, India Chapter jointly organize the annual event in association with the Taekwondo Association of West Bengal.

The Indo-Korean festival started in 2008 and took place in 2011, 2015, 2018, 2020 and 2023.

Under the agreement, the four parties agreed to cooperate for the organization of international academic seminars and events on health, happiness and world peace in the spirit of GCS – Goodwill, Cooperation and Service-Dedication.

They also agreed to cooperate for the organization of Indo-Korean cultural events, such as taekwondo demonstration, education and training, hangung competition and/or experience booth operation, health dowsing and/or experience booth operation, K-pop and Indo-Korean classical music concerts, as well as events involving K-fashion, K-food and the Korean language, and etc.

They agreed to cooperate for the education, training and dissemination of taekwondo, hangung and health dowsing for the disadvantaged worldwide, while expanding voluntary works for hangung and health dowsing and exchanging experience operation worldwide.

Shortly after the MOU signing, Dr. Kang donated one set of hangung equipment to Master Kumar Roy and attending VIPs practiced hangung.

THF Asia, which was established in 2022 in Seoul, Korea under the auspices of the Lausanne, Switzerland-headquartered THF, will provide financial and in-kind supports for the above-mentioned activities.

Hangung, or hands archery, was invented by Korean Hu Kwang in 2006. Hangung is a traditional sport for all, which combined the good things of the dart game with the traditional Korean archery and ‘Tuho,’ or throwing sticks from a set distance into a canister, plus an electronic score board of western archery. Hangung is a recording sport in which a player throws hanging pins five times each with his or her right hand and left hand, determining the winner with a higher mark. Hangung is a safe sport for all, which is easily accessible and good for concentration and communications among generations. Hangung is especially fit for the physically and mentally handicapped as well as the youth and seniors.

Dr. Seok-jae Kang, who has been working for the World Hangung Association as a board member since 2021, was appointed as president of the Seoul Hangung Association in November 2023. GCS International and the World Hangung Association signed an MOU in 2020. Dr. Kang serves as secretary general of GCS International, senior consultant for the Cares Program of World Taekwondo, as well as vice president and secretary general of the Asian Journalists Association.

The Korean Society of Dowsers, headed by Park Dae-chul, was launched in July 2023 to teach the art of dowsing in Korea and worldwide. Dr. Seok-jae Kang, who serves as a vice president of the Korean Society of Dowsers, was recently appointed as president of the Seoul Society of Dowsers. The Korean Society of Dowsers, whose head office is located on Jeju Island, Korea, plans to hold a world dowsers congress in 2025 on Jeju Island.