Taekwondo team advances to ‘America’s Got Talent’ semifinal

The World Taekwondo (WT) Demonstration Team earned overwhelming support of local viewers to make it to the semifinal of popular NBC audition show “America’s Got Talent.”

The WT Demonstration Team ranked among the final five as per a live announcement of vote results held at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on Thursday, climbing up to the semifinal of the program. British-born album producer Simon Cowell and other panelists gave a round of applause to the WT Demonstration Team, saying that it comes as no surprise.

The WT Demonstration Team showed three-minute performance that describes a message for people of our time in a fast-changing civilization to work hard to bring peace to the world and make society a better place based on the spirits of taekwondo. The group stood on stage as the last among a total of 12 participants in the quarterfinal held at the same venue on Wednesday. The panel commended that its show is full of real dazzling skills while the Marvel heroes depend on computer-generated imagery.

Golden buzzer winner WT Demonstration Team on “Italia’s Got Talent” in January last year was offered by its American version program to join the show. The team gained a ticket to the quarterfinal when it joined the program in June. A total of 22 demonstrators including six U.S. citizens found themselves at the center of public attention by showing a perfectly sharp group choreography and splitting six to seven pine boards flying in the air. A video showing the team’s performance earned more than 17.96 million hits as of Thursday. The semifinal will be live streaming on Sept. 1 with a total of seven competitors ready for showtime while the final round will be held on Sept. 15. The winner of the audition will own the million-dollar prize.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com