Establishment of Australian Kukkiwon Office

Dear Australian Taekwondo Community,

As you would be aware Kukkiwon (KKW) has, for a number of years, been working towards the standardisation of its technical standards on a worldwide basis. We have seen the introduction of Master Instructor and Examiners courses and qualifications to align with this process.

From the 1st January 2025 the requirement for Instructors to hold a KKW Examiners qualification to be able to continue to apply for KKW certification will come into effect.

As part of this process KKW is in the process of establishing a Kukkiwon office in each country to strengthen their global network and improve their connectivity with KKW members.

Over the past 18 Months AT has been working closely with KKW to establish the Australian KKW Office within AT. This process is now at its completion point and over the next few weeks we will formally finalise that process.

The establishment of the AUS KKW will ensure the changes to KKW grading and certification application requirements can be implemented for Australian Instructors in a fair and equitable way.

AT has been able to negotiate how these new requirements will be bought in within Australia to best suit our country and still maintain the integrity of the new requirements of KKW. The main effect you will see within your club operations will be to the Dan examination process and certificate application process.

It is important to note that for Kukkiwon grading requirements and applications, all Masters will be able to utilise the AT KKW Office, you will not have to become a member of AT to utilise these services.

The main points you will need to know are:

• Dan gradings up to 4^th Dan level can still be conducted by Masters in the same way as you currently operate.
• If you have a current TCON account, hold a Master Instructors and Examiner qualification and are applying directly to KKW for your certificates you will still be able to apply for certificates up to 4^th DAN
• If you hold a Master Instructors and Examiner qualification and are applying directly to AT for your certificates you will still be able to apply for certificates up to 4^th DAN directly through the AUS KKW Office, no matter if you are an AT member or not
• If you do not hold a Master Instructors and Examiner qualification you will no longer be able to use your TCON account to apply.
• If you do not hold a Master Instructors and Examiner qualification you will be able apply for certification up to 4^th DAN Level directly the AUS TKD office. AT has negotiated a dispensation for Masters to be able to apply in this way without the qualification until the next education course is conducted in Australia.  This has been allowed to ensure all Instructors have a fair opportunity to gain the qualification in this transition period. 
• The next KKW Masters and Examiners course is being negotiated for the first half of 2025 and will be conducted in Sydney.
• 5^th to 7^th Dan gradings will be conducted through the AUS KKW Office using grading panels made up of qualified Masters who are on the National Examiners List. This will be published soon.
• Grading panels will be flexible in their operation and panels can be established by application to the AUS KKW office.
• The AUS KKW Office Operating Policy and Grading Policy will be released soon.
• Panel gradings will be conducted in accordance with KKW rules.

We are sure there will be many questions from our community with the changes that will come in 2025. AT has given the commitment to make the transition to the new requirements fairly and equitably for all KKW Masters in Australia and will endeavour to work cohesively with you all to achieve the best possible result for our community.

Prior to Christmas we will host a live Q & A session to enable AT to engage directly with you. Information on this session will be released shortly.

We look forward to working with you to ensure the changes that are coming are as successful and smooth as possible.