The meaning of the success of Korea in the four international competitions in 1993 (Jinro, Ing, Dongyang Stock, and Fujitsu) has two main aspects.
The first was that Korean Baduk emerged from the shadow of the Japanese, and successfully stood alone. The second was that the Baduk world, once dominated by Japan, changed to being led jointly by Korea, Japan and China.
From the beginnings of Korean Baduk, spread by Cho Nam-chul 9-dan, who returned from Japan in 1945, it remained in the shadow of Japan until the 1980s. Most of the leading Korean players, including Cho Nam-chul, Kim In, Yoon Ki-hyun, Ha Chanseok and Cho Hoon-hyun, were those who had studied in Japan.
But even worse, Korean Baduk was completely ignored by the Japanese Baduk community, and to some extent by Korea's own media. They were virtually silent about Cho Hoon-hyun's unification of national competitions, being too busy trumpeting Cho Chi-hoon's rise to the top of Japanese Baduk in the same year.
Some Baduk fans thought we couldn't win against the Japanese even with 2-stone handicaps.
The first major competition between nations was the 1985 super competition between Japan and China, which completely ignored Korea. The first Ing competition was not much better: out of 16 participants, 6 were selected from Japan, 4 from China, and even 3 from Taiwan; only 1 Korean player was invited to participate.
Japan, which started modern Baduk, has lost the dominance it had in the Baduk world through most of the 20th century. Korea has arisen as the new world leader. Ages of Japan's tradition and authority are at an end, and the Baduk world is now defined by fair competition.
With the dawning of the 21st century, it seems unlikely that the Baduk world will allow one nation to dominate completely as in the last century. What should be done to survive and remain at the top in this new age of real competitions among the three strongest Baduk nations, Korea, China and Japan? That is the task faced by the world's current leader, Korea.

-- by Yang Hyung-mo, reporter of magazine 'Baduk'