What rights and privileges are accorded a fourth dan black belt in Tae Kwon Do?

Answer 1

This depends greatly on the particular school or organization. Often times, it is up to the instructor who trained the student, and awarded them the 4th Dan rank.

Although the requirements, training and certification to be an Instructor is different than rank requirements, the beginner Black Belts are often the first level where Instructorship certification is made available. 1st through 3rd Degree Black Belts are usually going through the process of becoming an assistant instructor to a fully certified Instructor. These levels are typically responsible for teaching the color belt curriculum to students.

The 4th Dan is sometimes referred to as a "Master" (sometimes Jr. Master or Associate Master with the full Master level at 5th Dan or higher), and this is the Senior Instructor in a school who teaches the other Black Belts. Although some Black Belts run their own schools at 3rd Dan and below, opening your own Dojang (school) is a privilege generally reserved for the 4th Dan or above. It is acceptable for 1st through 3rd Dan certified Instructors to run clubs and feeder programs that are an off-shoot from the main school run by a Master, and these programs should be under close supervision of the Master.

At the Kukkiwon (World Taekwondo Headquarters) in Seoul, Korea, an instructor must be at least a 4th Dan (Kukkiwon certified) in order to recommend other Black Belts for a Dan rank, and to be allowed to put their own name on color belt certificates for promotion of students under Black Belt. Many Instructors do these things without proper authority, but the quality and accuracy of Instruction should be brought into question.