Taekwondo officials of the two Koreas have met in Beijing about a dozen times in recent years to discuss a possible merger of their international bodies but no progress was made, a U.S. radio station said Wednesday, quoting a North Korean taekowndo leader.

In an interview with Voice of America, Jang Ung, North Korea’s International Olympic Committee member who also heads the country’s international taekwondo organization, said no breakthrough was made in 11 rounds of inter-Korean negotiations held in Beijing since 2004.

Jang, who heads the North Korean-led International Taekwondo Federation, told the Washington-based radio station that the secret negotiations in Beijing began after Choue Chung-won, a former Seoul university president, became the new head of the IOC-sanctioned World Taekwondo Federation.

“Since Choue Chung-won became the WTF president, the two bodies met 11 times in Beijing, but there was no progress,” Jang told VOA.

“I think the merger can only happen after the unification.”

Jang did not say what blocked progress in the merger talks in Beijing but previous reports said that the North insisted on equal representation of the two bodies in a unified organization, a proposal rejected by the South.

Jang didn’t specify which officials were involved in the Beijing negotiations but said he himself visited South Korea in August 2002 and discussed the issue with the then WTF president Kim Un-yong.

Recognized by the International Olympic Committee, the Seoul-based WTF is the official international governing body of taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art. 

(Yonhap News)