Vietnam-Korea traditional martial arts exchange opens in Hanoi 

PANO – Two traditional martial arts groups, Taekkyeon from the Republic of Korea and the Vovinam Club from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, entertained Vietnamese spectators with traditional martial arts performances at a program, “Vietnam-the Republic of Korea traditional martial arts exchange”, at the Korean Cultural Centre at 49 Nguyen Du Street, Hai Ba Trung district, Hanoi, on April 23rd.

The performances by the Vietnamese martial arts practitioners and the 10 Koreans left strong impressions on spectators.

At the program, the Korean Taekkyeon martial arts group introduced special features of Taekkyeon martial arts as the primary traditional martial arts in the Republic of Korea.  

Initiated in the RoK 2000 years ago, Taekkyeon, with different techniques, including arm and leg movements, it has helped improve its practitioners’ health as well as provided them with self-defence capabilities. It was recognised as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO on November 26th, 2011. 

Members of Vovinam Club from the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam also pleased spectators with beautiful performances of Vietnam’s traditional martial arts, which were selected as one of the competition categories at the 26th SEA Games in Indonesia in 2011.

At the exchange, Keum Gi Hyung, the Director of the Korean Cultural Centre, said that this is a special program to introduce special traditional cultural features of Vietnam and the RoK and hoped that the Vietnamese will learn more about Korean traditional martial arts, in particular, and other cultural genres of the RoK, in general.

Translated by Tran Hoai