North Korea’s emerging martial arts tourism: a Taekwon-Do case study

Abstract

Purpose This descriptive, non-experiment case study addresses the little-studied topic of martial arts tourism within the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; i.e., North Korea) to determine if it is a form of non-entertainment tourism. Design/methodology/approach The current research focusses on a single subject (Singaporean female; 36 years of age (at time of interview); Taekwon-Do 4th degree black belt) who travelled to the DPRK three times to practice the Korean martial art Taekwon-Do. After the initial contact, a questionnaire was used and direct interviews via Skype and Facebook were performed. A broad thematic discourse, as well as analysis of the subject’s travel and practice notes and photographs from her stay in the DPRK, were also incorporated into the findings. Findings The subject developed new Taekwon-Do skills, which permitted her to obtain higher Taekwon-Do ranks as well as enriched her personality and changed certain conceptions. Self-realization and self-improvement through martial arts are the dominant motives of martial arts tourism. Therefore, the subject’s motivation confirms martial arts tourism can be a variation of non-entertainment tourism. Research limitations/implications This research is hindered by the standard case study limitations: it is difficult to generalize this study’s results to the wider DPRK population, the interviewee’s and researchers’ subjective feelings may have influenced the findings, and selection bias is definitely a factor because of the study’s population being a single female of non-DPRK origin. Originality/value As one of the first studies on DPRK martial arts tourism and practice, this research examines where research on the DPRK and martial arts tourism intersect. It is thusly unique in providing new insights into the DPRK’s intention for its tourism industry, as well as Taekwon-Do, arguably its most marketable cultural asset.

Perception of Self-Efficacy and Health-Related Behavior in Context of Taekwon-Do Sport Camps

“…This study did not specify the nature of the training camps and trip destinations. Martial arts tourism and training camps could be held in the cradle of Taekwon-do-North Korean regions [43] for the sole purpose of training, to the academic camps of South Korea for academic development [44]. Most studies about martial arts tourism refers to expert level practitioners and some of them have academic degrees.…”

Martial Arts Tourism: Meta-Analysis of Publications from 2005–2020

“…Virtually every article contained references to the literature on the subject of martial arts and cited the state of knowledge in similar fields. It might be due to the intersection of studies on martial arts, and cultural tourism, or a problematic, historical article [28,37,39,66], or just a small case study. Sometimes the issue appears only once in one publication.…”

“…In addition to published papers, chapters in collective works such as scientific monographs, as cited above, and numerous texts, have also been published in scientific periodicals, especially those devoted to the study of martial arts and combat sports. However, there are also articles in tourist academic journals devoted to tourism, recreation, and traditional sports [39,[58][59][60], though this is rare. This topic has never appeared in some tourism magazines.…”

Martial Arts Tourism of the “Europe—Far East” Direction, in the Opinion of Grand Masters

“…Lovers of various martial arts have already traveled to the sources of their martial arts -Chinese [41][42][43][44], Japanese [12,26,32], Korean [40,45] or Brazilian [46]. In this case it is similar, but some of the subjects and their martial arts have their global centers in Europe-in Munich [47] or Vienna [35,36].…”

“…In turn, from socialist Poland, it was possible to go to North Korea before the system's transformation to study taekwon-do ITF there. It is now much more difficult [40].…”