February: the first international qualifications
The first all-Union technical seminar took place in Moscow on 12–18 February. Master Park Jung Tae, Lee Yong Sok and Sin Il Ung taught more than forty participants, covering fundamentals, patterns from Chon-Ji to Ge-Baek and methods of preparing athletes.
Ukrainians Valerii Sokol and Vitalii Olin from Kharkiv, and Yurii Buzhuzhan from Odesa, received I Dan alongside participants from other republics. For Ukraine’s young training centres, this provided a route into international technical standards and qualifications.
Summer: travelling to the World Cup in Pyongyang
Valerii Sokol and Vitalii Olin from Kharkiv and Yurii Buzhuzhan from Odesa travelled to the World Cup tournament in Pyongyang as members of the experimental USSR team. Before competing, the participants attended an international technical seminar with General Choi Hong Hi and Master Park Jung Tae.
Ukrainian athletes encountered different national schools and trained alongside ITF leaders. On returning home, they brought new approaches to technique, training and competition preparation into Ukrainian halls.
October: a major technical seminar
On 1–15 October, Master Lee Yong Sok and instructor Pak Bon Dok taught more than 120 athletes and coaches at Tuapse. Ukrainian participants included Anatolii Skrypka from Koriukivka. The programme extended through the technical requirements for black belts.
New teachers and organisational centres
That year, Han Chol arrived with a Korean demonstration team. He would become Ukraine’s chief instructor. The demonstrations at Kyiv’s Dynamo stadium brought future teachers, including Ihor Chekhov and Andrii Nashchynets, into training. Seminars, personal instruction and gradings became the main channels through which international experience reached Ukrainian clubs.
In Luhansk, Viktor Blekh received I Dan. The Luhansk federation was formally registered in the same year, 1989. Training groups were gradually acquiring the organisational structure needed to hold competitions and prepare together.