Hi All I know of 3 flags (not sure if I have the names exactly 100%) that are commonly used in ITF Tae Kwon-Do (although I'm sure there are more and I'm interested to learn about them): - ITF Logo Flag - Turtle Shell Flag - Founders Flag So it got me thinking - when is it appropriate to use each flag and why? Is it covered in General Choi's Encyclopedia of Tae Kwon-Do? Thanks!
The usual requirement is to have your own National Flag hang higher than others. I am not sure if you need a turtle shell flag, as you need the actual serial numbered (turtle shell) ITR Recgonition Plaque to denote a currently registered official ITF affiliated Dojang
Im not sure if i read it on MAP or somewhere else but there was a citation where General Choi stated that the only national flag which should be displayed is that of the country the school os in, and the trend of using the korean flag should only be adopted if your dojang is in korea or if you are a korean instructor. wasn't it said that the decoration of the dojang is at the discretion of to the instructor to display items to instil a sense of pride in the student for Taekwon-Do. if you want to be super concordant with rules the encyclopedia tells us that we should have a board with all the students names and ranks on display.
Early on Gen. Choi wore the south Korean Flag, which BTW is the established Korean Flag before the divide before the north came up with their communist theme flag, on his chest over his heart when he toured the world on the 1965 Kukki TKD GoodWill Tour. He insisted his students/followers wear it as well,MAs they were also promoting the Homeland of TKD, the ROK. Many SK instructors still display the Korean Flag, as do the NK instructors display theirs. However later on Gen. Choi advised that the Korean Flag was not needed, if you weren't in Korea or were not Korean. Was this to cut down on NK flags being displayed or because he was mad at the SK dictators is purely conjecture at this point.
