Thousands of taekwondo practitioners perfomed a flash mob ©World Taekwondo

Thousands of taekwondo practitioners encouraged a message of world peace when the DMZ (demilitarized zone) Peace Festival took place in South Korean city Paju – which included a flash mob.

The festival was jointly promoted by Seoul-based social organisation GCS International, headed by Choue Chung-won, who also serves as President of World Taekwondo, and the Kukmin Daily, a national newspaper.

The inaugural event was organised by the DMZ Peace Festival Organising Committee and Cooperation Act, a United States-based non-profit organisation.

Under the theme “Hand in Hand for Peace”, the one-day event aimed to provide free taekwondo education for children in developing countries and to promote world peace.

The festival was composed of two parts.

World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won made a speech at the festival ©World Taekwondo
World Taekwondo President Choue Chung-won made a speech at the festival ©World Taekwondo

There was an Opening Ceremony which included performances by the World Taekwondo demonstration team and the GCS Global Peace Corps taekwondo demonstration team.

There was also an art exhibition along the electric fences of the demilitarized zone near Nuri Peace Park.

For the art exhibition, Cooperation Act received around 500 drawings and paintings in a digital art file from people from different nations.

In addition, around 5,000 taekwondo athletes performed a flash mob in a bid to emphasise the importance of world peace.

“We are pleased to work with the Kukmin Daily for the 2019 DMZ Peace Festival through which we want to show the world that taekwondo is a peace-loving Olympic sport,” Choue said.