S Korea Taekwondo chief held

Taekwondo is hugely popular in South Korea

The head of South Korea's Taekwondo Association has been arrested on charges of rigging his election in February last year, and bribing fellow officials.

Prosecutors have indicted Koo Chun-seo, accusing him of using 300 "gangsters and taekwondo experts" to stop rivals attending the vote.

Mr Koo was unanimously elected chairman of the martial arts association by the 17 delegates who were able to attend.

He was also accused of paying over $20,000 to two association officials ahead of the vote.

Mr Koo was arrested and charged along with Lee Seng-wan, an adviser to the association, who was once in prison for organising the disruption of an opposition political rally in 1987.

The South Korean Taekwondo Association has been dogged by scandal in recent years.

Mr Koo, a former South Korean MP, took over after his predecessor, Kim Un-yong, was forced out after three decades in the job, over allegations of corruption.

Taekwondo is an Olympic sport which originated on the Korean peninsula.

The South Korean army uses it to train soldiers, and parents send their children to classes, believing that it is a character-building exercise which teaches discipline and patriotism.