US North Korea Goodwill Tour


The tour brought the North Korean Taekwondo Demonstration Team to the
United
States for the first time. The team traveled to
five major cities in the
U.S. and performed. Please find more
information about the historical tour at http://usnktkd.com/. This tour was the first of
its kind and brought together everyday citizens of
North Korea and the
United
States, teaching both countries’ citizens that
they could be friends and brothers.
One of the team
members, 21-year-old Sun Hui Kim, pictured below, showed Americans her
overwhelming strength during a performance in
Cedar Rapids,
Iowa. In an attempt to break two 2-inch cement
blocks, Sun Hui fell hard on her elbow, unable to break the blocks. The crowd
gasped from the thud her bones made against the unbroken cement. Slowly, Sun Hui
stood up, rocking her body back and forth and breathing deep with her chest, she
sweetly smiled and held up her index finger, telling everyone in the audience
“Give me one more chance.” The crowd watched as the silent girl gathered her
strength, leapt up in the air and brought her entire body down behind her elbow,
crushing through the cement blocks. The crowd rose to their feet and cheered.
Sun Hui went on to
perform the entire show that night with a broken elbow, but no one in the
audience knew. When asked after why she had continued on despite a broken elbow,
Sun Hui’s pale face looked somber as she held back tears. She said that she had
seen her country’s flag, with the flag of the
U.S. and she wanted to have the respect of the
people of
North Korea, the
people of the
U.S. and that she wanted to honor her
family. She said it did not matter that her body was broken, all that mattered
was the connection now that was forming between the citizens of the
U.S. and
North
Korea.
By TaeKwonDo Times Magazine
For more info visit usnktkd.com
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