Taekwondo diplomacy: new possibilities for peace on the Korean Peninsula

Sports diplomacy has long been effective in bringing nations and cultures together. Sports diplomacy is a type of soft diplomacy: the more informal diplomatic engagements between non-government entities that sometimes operate with governmental support, but more often as a private exchange. Soft diplomacy has provided governments a place where greater understanding happens, which has in turn led to increased political cooperation. Taekwondo, the Korean martial art turned international Olympic sport, has been used for soft diplomatic purposes almost since its inception. Most recently, the Taekwondo demonstration teams from the Republic of Korea (ROK; South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK; North Korea) have been used as a tool to bridge the political gap between the two divided nations. The current research introduces a general framework of diplomacy and elucidates the soft diplomacy efforts made by ROK and DPRK Taekwondo organizations in order to provide a foundation for future research on Taekwondo diplomacy and peace negotiations.