In my opinon. The art needs to recognize gen Choi Hong Hi as his founder or origin.
This can leed to some problems whit WT taekwondo whom we all recognize.

In this case i like to see a high raking individual of a recgnized organization confirm that this art is stil a form of TKD.
This can take a some time becos of the the lokation of the organization in Australia and the lack of mebemers from that region on TKD Checker.

I have no doudt that Nick Donato is who he says he is. Do the ofical sites says that hee is a 7 th dagree master and not a 8 th dragree grand master

When I began my TKD training in 1974 I was with the Aisian Pacific TKD Federation then in 1980 Rhee TKD Chong chul Rhee was one of the 12 original Masters under Choi Hong Hi founder of ITF TKD then in 1995 Joe Onopa who trained under B C Yu then Kwong Jo Choi another one of the 12 originals This is where the Kwon Bop comes in because before K J Choi joined the military he was trained in the old art of Kwon Bop Korean Karate before 1955 so out of respect to both his teachings and lineage he founded the Kwon Bop Do Federation. As you can see we have a lineage 2 of the originals and there is even more, I hope this gives a little more insight into who we are and there is a lot of documented information available on line from many respected Martial Artists around the world.

I think the Taekwondo philosophy of history is somewhat unique, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad.

I understand the root of the tree is the root of the tree. However, the tree will also spread its seeds to create other trees of like kind. All of this also to say the tree could have never grown had the initial seed not been planted.

Before the ITF was Oh Do Kwan, and from his mouth to my ear I have heard GGM Nam, Tae Hi say the name Oh Do Kwan was chosen for inclusion because members of many kwans would pass through due to mandatory military service.

Even the most diehard follower of Gen Choi would not argue that the ITF was born after Oh Do Kwan. Many ODK masters, and early ITF pioneers both came from other kwans and later departed to other kwans or organizations including Kukkiwon.

Accordingly, I choose to take the position that there are three main layers to the history of Taekwondo with many new branches growing from those three.

1. The early 5 kwans
2. Chang Heon Taekwondo
3. Kukki-Taekwondo

Sure it can be argued that the early kwans were practicing Karate, Kong Soo Do, Tang Soo Do, etc.

I simply choose to divert from this argument because even those most loyal to Choi, Hong Hi would agree his goal was unity!