ITF Radix Tour, Seoul 2027 – Back to the Roots
By Roy Rolstad
In March 2027, ITF Radix is going to Seoul.
But this is more than a trip to South Korea.
It is a journey back to the roots.
From March 19/20 to 29, 2027, we are inviting members of National Taekwon-Do Norway (NTN), together with their families, to join us for the ITF Radix Tour Seoul 2027.
For anyone who has spent years practicing Taekwon-Do, Korea occupies a special place in our history. We perform patterns carrying Korean names. We tell the stories of Korean historical figures. We use Korean terminology every time we enter the dojang. Yet for most practitioners, Korea remains something we know through books, instructors, documentaries, and stories.
This time, we are going there.
The City Where ITF Was Born
Seoul is particularly significant to us.
The International Taekwon-Do Federation was founded there in 1966. Sixty-one years later, we will walk through the same city while exploring the history, culture, martial arts, and movement traditions that helped shape the art we practice today.
That is exactly what makes this trip so interesting from a Radix perspective.
Radix means root.
Since Robert Boer and I started developing ITF Radix, we have constantly tried to look beneath the surface of Taekwon-Do. We ask where movements came from, what they were intended to do, how they relate to fighting, and how history and culture influenced the development of the art.
In Seoul, we get an opportunity to explore some of those questions where the history actually happened.
Walking Into the Stories Behind the Patterns
One of the things I am looking forward to the most is visiting historical locations connected to the people and events represented in our patterns.
We plan to explore history associated with names such as Do-San, Joong-Gun, So-San, and Choong-Moo.
Most Taekwon-Do students learn a short explanation when they learn a new pattern. Over the years, those few sentences become familiar.
But imagine standing at locations connected to that history.
Suddenly, the name at the beginning of a pattern becomes more than something you have memorized for a grading.
There was a person.
There was a time.
There was a conflict.
There was a culture.
There was a story.
I think understanding those stories gives another dimension to practicing the patterns themselves.
Training Beyond Taekwon-Do
We are also going to explore some of the Korean martial traditions surrounding Taekwon-Do.
I am very happy that we have already arranged an introductory Hapkido seminar with Grandmaster Han Jung Doo, 10th Dan.
As someone who has practiced Hapkido for many years alongside Taekwon-Do, this is something I am personally looking forward to very much.
We have also arranged a Taekyun seminar with Grandmaster Do Ki-Hyun.
Taekyun is particularly fascinating because of its distinctive footwork, rhythm, relaxed movement, balance disruption, and kicking methods. Experiencing it directly in Korea gives us an opportunity to explore Korean movement culture beyond the boundaries of our own system.
And then we have another good friend of ITF Radix joining the project.
Sanko Lewis and Korean Body Culture
Professor Sanko Lewis, 6th Dan ITF Taekwon-Do, will give us a lecture on Korean body culture and how Korean ideas about movement may help us better understand our own Taekwon-Do.
Sanko has lived in Korea for around 15 years and currently works as a university professor in Seoul. He also has experience in Taekyun and Hapkido.
Those who have followed ITF Radix for some time will know that Sanko and I share an interest in looking deeper into Taekwon-Do’s history and movement principles.
This is exactly the type of discussion I want this tour to create.
Not simply:
How do Koreans perform this technique?
But:
Why do they move this way?
Where did these ideas come from?
What existed before Taekwon-Do?
What changed?
What remained?
And what can we learn from it today?
Korea Beyond the Dojang
Of course, we are not flying halfway around the world just to spend every day inside a dojang.
Seoul is one of the world’s great cities, and there will be plenty of time to explore it.
Markets. Palaces. Temples. Korean food. Shopping. Museums. Modern city life. History.
And hopefully something else.
Cherry blossoms.
The tour takes place during Easter 2027, at a time when Seoul may be entering its famous cherry blossom season. Nature obviously makes no promises, but if the timing works in our favor, we may get to experience the city covered in pink and white.
There will also deliberately be free time in the program.
A group like this will contain people with very different interests. Some will want martial arts from morning until night. Others will want Korean history. Some will disappear into markets and restaurants. Others will probably return home with an additional suitcase after discovering Seoul’s shopping districts.
That is part of the adventure.
Come With Us
The tour is being organized together with TAKs verden, an Oslo-based travel agency, and there are several flight and accommodation options.
Depending on the selected flight and room arrangement, current package prices start at NOK 21,445 per person. The package includes flights from Oslo, airport transfers in Seoul, hotel accommodation with breakfast, and the planned Hapkido and Taekyun seminars and Sanko Lewis’ lecture.
I will travel with the group from Oslo and be responsible for our joint program in Seoul.
The current registration deadline is Friday, October 9, 2026.
More elements will be added to the program as agreements with instructors, guides, and collaborators are finalized.
And I suspect there may be a few surprises along the way.
For me, this tour represents something that sits right at the heart of ITF Radix.
We practice an art with Korean roots.
We perform the patterns.
We study the applications.
We research the history.
We ask questions.
Now we have the opportunity to travel together to Korea and explore some of those roots ourselves.
March 2027. Seoul.
Come with us.
Let’s go back to the roots.
Information, Prices and Registration
Full information about the tour, flight options, accommodation, prices and registration can be found here:
https://taksverden.no/destinasjoner/asia/sor-korea/itf-radix-tour-seoul
Registration deadline: October 9, 2026.
Roy Rolstad
ITF Radix
