Patterns>Chang-hon pattern set>Juche

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Juche

Intro

The pattern is named for the Juche Tower (more formally, Tower of the Juche Idea), which is a monument in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The tower was named after the ideology of Juche introduced by its first leader Kim Il-sung. Juche is a philosophical idea that man is the master of the world and of his own destiny. This idea is said to be rooted in Baekdu Mountain, which symbolizes the spirit of the Korean people.

Juche Tower

Unveiled on April 15th, 1982, the tower was constructed "out of a unanimous desire and firm will to fight resolutely for the ultimate victory of the Juche cause." The tower is situated on the eastern bank of the Taedong River, directly opposite Kim Il-sung Square on the western side of the river that was built to commemorate Kim Il-sung's 70th birthday. Although his son and successor, Kim Jong-il, is officially credited as its designer, interviews with former North Korean officials contradict this assertion.

The 170-meter (560 ft) structure is a four-sided tapering 150-meter (490 ft) spire, the tallest in granite. It is made up of 25,550 blocks (365 × 70: one for each day of Kim Il-sung's life, excluding supplementary days for leap years). It is dressed in white stone with seventy dividers and capped with a 20-meter (66 ft) high 45-ton illuminated metal torch. It is possible to ascend the tower by elevator and there are wide views over Pyongyang from the viewing platform just below the torch.

At its base, there are reception rooms where videos explaining the tower's ideological importance are sometimes shown. The tower’s design is presumed to be based on the Washington Monument, which it surpasses in height by less than a meter. The Juche Tower is the second tallest monumental column in the world after the San Jacinto Monument, which is 2.9 meters (9.5 ft) taller.

Associated with the tower is a 30-meter (98 ft)-high statue consisting of three idealized figures each holding a tool: a hammer (the worker, a sickle (the peasant), and a writing brush (the "working intellectual"). The figures are in a classic communistic style reminiscent of the Soviet statue Worker and Kolkhoz Woman. The three tools form the insignia on the flag of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea. There are also six smaller groups of figures, each 10 meters (33 ft) high, that symbolize other aspects of Juche ideology. Another part of the tower is a wall with 82 friendship plaques from foreign supporters and Juche Study Groups.

Pattern history

General Choi developed as juche as a replacement for ko-dang and introduced it 1983. Since ko-dang was considered relatively easy for 2nd degree to performs, he wanted to create a pattern that was more challenging. While juche contains many of the same movements as ko-dang, Choi added some more recently developed techniques, such as slow-motion kicks, two-direction kicks, dodging kicks, and flying hand attacks.

General Choi always longed for the unification of North and South Korea. He had introduced taekwondo to North Korea in 1980 and, with the introduction of juche in 1983, he gained more credibility with Kim Il-sung, the leader of North Korea. Ko-dang was named for Cho Man-sik, a North Korean democratic Christian moderate while juche was named for the isolationist policy of "self-reliance" invented and advocated by Kim Il-sung. Some say the reason for the name change was more to gain funding than it was to further unification. Although Choi may have gained some favor with North Koreas, South Korea was not so pleased with the decision and Choi began to lose favor in South Korea.

Although juche officially replaced ko-dang in the ITF syllabus, some schools still teach ko-dang instead of juche, some teach both, some allow students to perform ko-dang when their abilities are challenged by age or disability, and some changed the name of the pattern from juche back to ko-dang, while still keeping most of the juche movements.
Ko-dang was named after the independence movement activist Cho Man-sik whose pen name was “Ko-dang.” Cho Man-sik was basically the first president of North Korea and was called the Chairman of the Provisional People's Committee for the Five Provinces. He was ousted by the Soviet forces who the instated Kim Il-sung, the so-called “father” of North Korea. Even though Cho Man-sik and Kim Il-sung were both communists, Cho was a Christian and Kim was Juche believer, so they were at odds with each other. Finally, Kim put Cho under house arrest, but Cho continued to speak against the Soviets, so Kim had him put in prison, where he disappeared; some say he was executed.

Pattern movements

Number of movements: 45

Diagram of movements

The shape of the diagram represents Baekdu Mountain

Pattern performance

There are numerous videos and explanations of the pattern movements available on the internet that show how to perform the pattern in the way preferred by your instructor, school, or organization. The following is an example of the ITF way to perform the pattern.

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