World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue, right, met with his ITF counterpart Ri Yong-son, left ©World Taekwondo

Officials from the World Taekwondo and the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF) held "comprehensive" discussions on a strategic roadmap as they seek to create a joint organisation.

A meeting at the World Taekwondo Wuxi Centre was billed as a follow-up to the "historic agreement" signed last month in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang.

The agreement was signed by World Taekwondo President Chungwon Choue and ITF head Ri Yong-son.

It outlined their aim of establishing a joint organisation, with further talks planned over details of the accord, including the name and short-term objectives.

According to World Taekwondo, the latest meeting saw discussions over the roadmap, including the creation of a committee.

Choue was joined by his vice-presidents Ahmed Fouly and Kyuseok Lee at the meeting, with Ri accompanied by ITF senior vice-president Hwang Ho Yong.

The committee would be "tasked with jointly developing the implementation plans for the realisation of ‘One Taekwondo", World Taekwondo revealed.

For more than 40 years, World Taekwondo and the ITF have each maintained they were the only international taekwondo governing body.

But in the last four years, since a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Choue on behalf of World Taekwondo with then-ITF head Chang Ung in the presence of IOC President Thomas Bach during the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, relations have been improving.

A joint World Taekwondo and ITF demonstration team is expected to perform next year after months of training - a significant step forward from their previous joint performances by separate teams.

The meeting was viewed as a follow-up to the
The meeting was viewed as a follow-up to the "historic" accord signed last month ©World Taekwondo

North Korean-style taekwondo maintains the martial art's traditional styles and emphasises power and practical fighting skills, while the South Korean style is sharper and more entertaining.

It has been claimed that the joint team will take the strengths of both styles and improve them into a new one.

Hopes have been expressed that the joint teams could showcase unity to the world at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

Officials have claimed taekwondo can be "an inspiration and a catalyst" for the unification of North and South Korea.

As well as discussions over their future relationship and the joint taekwondo team, World Taekwondo and ITF officials attended the World Taekwondo Grand Slam Champions Series in Wuxi.

The five-day event concluded with the inaugural World Taekwondo Wuxi Forum.

The Wuxi Centre was established in July 2018 with the aim of supporting their education and development programs.

Wuxi is due to be the host city of the World Taekwondo Championships and World Para-Taekwondo Championships in 2021.