World Taekwondo Federation withdraws President Putin’s Honorary Dan certificate

▲ This photo, provided by World Taekwondo Federation, shows World Taekwondo Federation President Cho Jung-won conferring the Taekwondo Honorary Dan certificate to Russian President Putin. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Mar. 1 (Yonhap) -- The World Taekwondo(WT) Federation issued a statement on Feb. 28 afternoon and announced that it would withdraw the honorary Taekwondo certificate of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

World Taekwondo Federation President Cho Jung-won conferred the Taekwondo Honorary Dan certificate to President Putin, who visited South Korea in November, 2013, asking for support for the development of Taekwondo in Russia.

The Federation explained, "The brutal attack on innocent lives in Ukraine is against the WT vision of 'Peace is more important than victory' and the WT values of respect and tolerance," adding, “We decided to withdraw the honorary Dan certificate to strongly condemn this.”

Moreover, the Federation announced, "In respect of the policy of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), we have decided not to hold competitions hosted by the Federation in Russia and Belarus and to deny approval of competitions."

Athletes from both countries can participate in competitions hosted and approved by the Federation only under the names of the Russian Taekwondo Association and Belarus Taekwondo Association instead of their country names.

The use of national flags representing Russia and Belarus is also not permitted.

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