The 2019 GCS International Convention took place in a great success on September 21, 2019 at Chosun University in Gwangju, Korea

The Gwangju 2019 GCS International Convention, which was held to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the GCS International and the 38th U.N. International Day of Peace, attracted about 2,000 people, including about 1,100 members of the newly launched GCS Global Peace Corps, from 18 countries.

Founded in 1979, GCS International is a Seoul-based U.N.-affiliated non-governmental organization (NGO) headed by Dr. Chungwon Choue, who also serves as president of World Taekwondo. With three major spirits of goodwill, cooperation and service, it strives to achieve the three by promoting healthy society, better living, preservation of the nature, restoration of human dignity and promotion of world peace. With a global membership of 44 national chapters, GCS International was founded by the late Dr. Young Seek Choue, who proposed the International Day of Peace and the International Year of Peace to the United Nations in 1981 and was unanimously approved by the U.N. General Assembly that year. In 2016, GCS International signed a memorandum of understanding with World Taekwondo, the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation to help empower the powerless in developing countries.

The one-day 2019 GCS International Convention, which started at 9:30 a.m. and continued until 6:30 p.m. at the Haeoreum Center at Chosun University, featured the 2019 GCS International Peace Seminar, the main GCS International Convention, the inauguration of the GCS Global Peace Corps, the 2019 GCS Peace Concert, and a taekwondo musical.
The GCS International Convention, which took place in Korea for the first time since 2012, was jointly promoted by GCS International and Chosun University and supported by GCS Korea Chapter, the Oughtopian Peace Foundation, Radian QBio and TKDSANGA.

Among dignitaries, who attended the Gwangju convention, were GCS International President Chungwon Choue; Dr. Hong Sung-Geum, acting president of Chosun University; Dr. Lu Dezhi, vice chairman of the China Charity Alliance; Dr. Pornchai Mongkhonvanit, president of GCS Thailand Chapter and president of Siam University; Dr. Shim Ho-Myung, president of the GCS Korea Chapter; Dato Lee Jin-Bok, honorary president of GCS Malaysia Chapter; Mr. Sun Dejun, chairman of Shanghai Jijin Sports and associated president of the WT Wuxi Center.
Also on hand were WT Secretary General Hoss Rafaty; Mr. Kim In-Seon, a WT Council member; Mr. Na Il-Han, head of the WT Demonstration Team; Mr. Philippe Bouedo, technical delegate of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games; Mr. John Cullen, director for WT broadcast operations and planning; and Mr. Jerry Ling, WT chief of staff.

Dr. Huh Jong, vice president of GCS International; Dr. Seok-Jae Kang, secretary general of GCS International and senior consultant for WT Cares Program; Mr. Lee Won-Jong, secretary general of the Oughtopian Peace Foundation; Dr. Yoon Oh-Nam, a professor of the College of Physical Education at Chosun University; Dr. Lee Kye-Haeng, dean of the College of Physical Education at Chosun University were also attend the event.

Also attendees of the convention were Mr. Prakash Shumsher Rana, president of the Nepal Taekwondo Association and co-president of the GCS Nepal Chapter; Mr. Yoo Seung-Bok and Dato Lee Chong Haw, co-presidents of the GCS Malaysia Chapter; Mr. Oinuma Yoshihisa, president of the GCS Japan Chapter; Mr. Raul Pinzon, president-appointee of the GCS Colombia Chapter; Master Luay Nader Alkhatib, president-appointee of the GCS Jordan Chapter; Master Hichem Ayouni, secretary general of the Association Sportif de Sfax in Tunisia and secretary general-appointee of the GCS Tunisia Chapter; Master Choi Yong-Sok, Korean government-dispatched taekwondo master to Cambodia and an official of the GCS Cambodia Chapter.

Shortly after the seminar, about 1,100 members of the GCS Global Peace Corps made a taekwondo performance for about 15 minutes at the school playground, drawing a big applause from the participants in the convention. The mass taekwondo performance was supposed to take place shortly after the inauguration of the GCS Global Peace Corps in the afternoon. Bur rain forced to change the time.

At the 2019 GCS International Peace Seminar, which starts at 9:30 a.m., GCS International President Choue made a keynote speech, followed by presentations by Prof. Luc Reychler of Leuven University in Belgium; Dr. Selma Li, president of the GCS International Portland, U.S.A. Chapter; Indian Swami Divyananda Maharaj of the Ramakhrishna Mission; Prof. Oh Young-Dahl of Chungnam National University in Korea; Master Pradipta Kumar Roy, secretary genral of the Roy’s Taekwondo Academy in India.
Mr. Cho Keon-Jin and Ms. Lee Yoon-Ah served as the masters of ceremonies of the convention, while Mr. Hong Duck-Hwa of Yonhap News Agency served as the moderator of the international peace seminar.

At 1:30 p.m. the annual 2019 GCS International Convention started with the GCS Bell ringing by Dr. Choue reciting “G – C –S the Global Common Society.” He also made a welcoming speech, followed by congratulatory messages by Chosun University Acting President Hong, Dr. Lu Dezhi, Dr. Shim Ho-Myung, and a video congratulatory message by Mr. Michel Idiaquez, former Honduran ambassador to Korea. Dr. Pornchai Mongkhonvanit of Thailand read the vision statement of the 2019 GCS International Convention, followed by GCS activities reports by national chapters. Next was the felicitation session in which plaques and letters of appointment and appreciation were awarded to dozens of GCS members and Chosun University people.

After the annual GCS International Convention. there was a ceremony to inaugurate the GCS Global Peace Corps,, in which the new logo of the GCS Global Peace Corps was unveiled and a promotional video was shown. A taekwondo demonstration team of the GCS Global Peace Corps also made a taekwondo performance at the Haeoreum Center. A scheduled GCS world peace walkathon, a 1.8km span from the school to the nearby Flag Peak, was canceled because of rain.

The inauguration ceremony which was followed by The 2019 GCS Peace Concert took place at the Haeoreum Center for one hour from 4:45p.m., in which a 35-member Korea Saxophone Harmony orchestra played famous classic and pop songs, followed by a 20-minute classic song performance by Soprano Kim Jee-Hyun and Tenor Lee Jeong-Won. Soprano Kim and Tenor Lee were appointed as GCS “Peace Ambassadors.”

The concert was followed by a 30-minute taekwondo musical by members of the Chosun University Taekwondo Demonstration Team.

“The 2019 GCS International Convention has a special meaning in that it marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of GCS International and September 21 is the 38th U.N. International Day of Peace. ‘Peace is More Precious than Triumph’ is the book title of the late Dr. Young Seek Choue, the founder of the GCS Movement, and the words send a precious lesson to all mankind. In this regard, the inauguration of the GCS Global Peace Corps on the occasion of the 2019 GCS International Convention is very meaningful and it brightens the future of the GCS Movement,” said Dr. Choue.

He continued to say, “I wish not only taekwondo, but also all sports to join the GCS Global Peace Corps, which would ultimately help promote world peace.” “The year 2019 will be a turning point for the 40-year GCS Movement and we all have to join hands to chart another 40-year GCS Movement. In 2021, we will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the GCS founder and the 40th anniversary of the U.N. International Day of Peace. I ask for your continued service and dedication to the promotion of the GCS Movement around the world.”