Donald Trump Was Awarded A Ninth-Degree Black Belt In Taekwondo — Despite Never Practicing Taekwondo

Donald Trump, a man who thinks exercise will kill you, has received an honorary ninth-degree black belt in Taekwondo.

The ex-president was presented with the honor by Lee Dong Seop, the president of Kukkiwon, the world Taekwondo headquarters located in South Korea. He told Korean newspaper Dong-a Ilbo that “I heard that Donald Trump is highly interested in Taekwondo,” most likely because his buddy Vladimir Putin also received the same honor in 2013. Neither man has ever been known to practice Taekwondo.

Issued by Kukkiwon president Lee Dong-sup, Trump received the honorary belt at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla. Kukkiwon posted the exchange to its Facebook page, where Trump can be seen wearing a traditional taekwondo uniform, outfitted with a black dan belt. In taekwondo, the ninth dan belt is the highest level a person can achieve.

“It is my honor to receive Honorary Dan Certificate and I think Taekwondo is magnificent martial art for self-defense,” Trump was quoted as saying on Kukkiwon’s Facebook page. “I wish to see Kukkiwon Taekwondo Team’s demonstration.” The post comes with the disclaimer, “This ceremony is not related any other political issues.”

A ninth-degree black belt takes decades of training and “incredible devotion to the art, hard work, and consistent training for life,” and one must “also have to have overseen a significant number of black belts and/or other such accomplishments.”

The losers and haters out there might think Trump doesn’t deserve the honorary black belt. But I disagree: “watching Bloodsport a lot” counts as an accomplishment.

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(Via the Hill)