many of the original masters of taekwondo went on to prominent roles in the itf in the late 1960s and 1970s. as time passed and many of these masters left the itf, their photographs were removed from choi's series of taekwondo textbooks and replaced with photographs of current itf masters. one of the main reasons for their departure was choi's insistence on initiating relationships with north korea, during a period in which that country and south korea were "technically at war" (gillis, 2003, p. 104; c. k. choi, 2010, p. 147), or at best, had "no diplomatic relations" (c. k. choi, 2010, p. 147) or "no diplomatic ties" (world taekwon-do alliance). at least one of the masters reported that it was with regret that he stopped supporting choi. north and south korea are still considered to be technically at war.