"We begin the New Year with a great deal of excitement and optimism," Choue writes.

"Thanks to the work of all of you, last year was not just another great year for taekwondo it was possibly our best ever."

Choue also mentions the success of the sport at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, claiming that a "Festival of Fight" was promised and taekwondo delivered exactly that.

He also referenced the historic medal winning efforts of Jordan, who won its first ever Olympic medal, and Côte d’Ivoire.

Cheick Sallah Cissé won his country’s first ever Olympic gold medal while Iran won its first-ever female Olympic medal through Kimia Alizadeh.

With all the successes from 2016 in mind, Choue also cast an optimistic eye towards the future and said the WTF cannot become "complacent".

"We are always looking to evolve and improve our sport and together we must continue to push forward and realise the immense potential of taekwondo," he said.

"Taekwondo is a fast, exciting and dynamic sport and we want to make it a sport that always “dazzles and excites.” 

Rule changes were approved at the WTF General Assembly in Burnaby in Canada in November in order to address a number of issues raised following the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

President Choue admitted that "many members of the global taekwondo family had complained" following Rio 2016.

The sport’s membership highlighted the over-use of front leg kicks and Protector Scoring System (PSS) as two of the main problems.

As a result, the WTF agreed to implement a number of alterations, including competitors being awarded an extra point - from one to two - for kicks to the body, due to fully come into effect at the 2017 World Championships in Muju, South Korea, in June.

The WTF has also accepted an extension the margin at which matches can be ended, from 12 points to 20.

The minus half-point penalty will be scrapped, leaving gam-jeom -minus one point - as the only penalty of its kind.

It has been proposed that automatic penalties be removed for pushing, allowing for competitors to push and kick.

The WTF hope this will encourage more combination attacks, with some within the sport criticising some of the bouts at the Olympics in the Brazilian city for lacking action and being too passive.

All these rules will also come into effect at the World Championships.

"The 2015 World Championships in Chelyabinsk, Russia were our best ever and I have no doubt Muju will build on their success," said Choue.

"We expect athletes from more than 200 countries will take part demonstrating the truly global strength of the sport."

Closing the message, Choue also spoke about the work the charitable arm of the WTF, the Taekwondo Humanitarian Foundation (THF), is doing.

"But WTF is about more than sport."

"We take our social responsibility very seriously and are committed to harnessing the power of taekwondo for good.

"The THF Taekwondo Academy in Azraq Refugee Camp in Jordan, is now teaching more than 60 Syrian refugee children.

"Our work was even recognised by Peace and Sport as we were honoured with Federation of the Year. 

"Thanks to a generous donation from China’s Huamin Charity Foundation, we will build a Taekwondo Academy in the Refugee camp this year.