San 76, Yeoksam-dong, Seongdong-gu (currently Gangnam-gu), Seoul. Starting out as the “Korea Taesudo Association” in 1961, the association changed its name to the “Korea Taekwondo Association” in 1965, finally becaming known as “Kukkiwon,” the realized dream of all Taekwondo masters, on November 19, 1971 . Over KRW 150 million was invested in the construction of the Kukkiwon, which was built on a plot of land more than 70,000 square feet in area. The ferroconcrete building has one basement level and three above-ground floors. Built with blue giwa roof tiles, which symbolize the beauty and elegance of Korean-style housing, and eight cylindrical columns, which symbolize the Taeguk patterns of the eight trigrams, the World Taekwondo Headquarters can accommodate 3,000 people in its over 8,000-square-foot arena, which is located near Teheran-ro in the center of Gangnam, Seoul. The road in front of the Kukkiwon was given the honorary name “Kukkiwon-gil” so as to reinforce the status of Korea as the origin of Taekwondo to all Taekwondo masters and visitors to the headquarters. In the past, when there was no adequate space or facility to hold taekwondo competitions, the headquarters was the long-desired dream of 1.3 million Taekwondo masters, making the construction of the Kukkiwon a particularly moving experience for them.