26 newly selected masters
The Korea Masters Association was established in 2004 in order to find and reward masters of various fields. It has run the Korea Masters Festival since 2006 and held events for foreign ambassadors in Korea to spread excellence of Korean culture and crafts. 26 masters and 200 audiences gathered together at the capitol building this year and a congratulatory performance was given by Jinse Art Company consisted of members of the Korea Masters Association. A number of renowned figures also shined the day: the Korea Masters Association president Yoon Sang-ho and members of the board, the World Masters Committee chairman Kim Min-chan, the World Masters Association president Kim Eun-sil, and the World Culture Art Broadcasting CEO Lee Sang-tae. Taking the stage to give a congratulatory speech, lawmaker Lee Hack-young said “I sincerely congratulate those who are selected as masters this year. Many advanced countries boast splendid culture and I hope you all to make great contributions to spreading excellence of Korean culture to the world.” The Korea Masters Association president Yoon said in response “Thank you all to be here today despite your busy schedule. I encourage those selected to play their role to lead our culture with pride from now on.” 

Spreading the charm of kouksundo
One of the 26 is Kouksundo master Kim Jong-pil. Kouksundo is a traditional Korean mind-body training that has been passed down in many different names: hwarangdo, nangdo, poongryudo, hyunmeogido, and poongwoldo; the idea of the training is to apply the ‘dynamics study’ to the spirit, energy and soul of our body which the training calls it as ‘danri’; danri is a method to train our heart in accordance with the heaven, earth and mind; Kouksundo uses danri to make harmony of the heaven, earth and man. Kouksundo started to spread fast one more time from early 2000 thanks to the people’s increased interest in our traditional culture. Kim learned kouksundo from a kouksundo teacher when he was a high school student. “I learned from the teacher that breathing accompanied with appropriate movements corrects body shape and makes the flow of energy flawless. I see many modern people unknowingly have a warped body shape part or whole due to bad habit and stress. One benefit of kouksundo is to help them correct the body shape and to ease down their stress through breathing that calms down their agitated mind” said Kim. It is known that kouksundo also improves memory, concentration, confidence and willingness. To spread this excellent mind-body training, Kim opened a kouksundo studio and Hyundong Health Center in Hwajeong and is actively engaged in training the people at a number of universities and public institutions.