Referee conference

Habui (합의, «referee conference») is the procedure by which the referees (심판원, simpanwon) of a kumdo match confer with one another. Under the Korean match and refereeing rules, when a conference is needed the referees stop the match and hold it at the centre of the match area (경기장, gyeonggijang). The Korean term 합의 (合議) is written with the same characters as the Japanese 合議 (gōgi) in the All Japan Kendo Federation rules.

The panel is, in principle, one chief referee (주심, jusim) and two assistant referees (부심, busim), who have equal authority over valid strikes (유효격자, yuhyogyeokja) and other decisions.

When it is held

• To cancel a valid strike.
• When the referees have made a mistake.
• When it is unclear whether a foul (반칙, banchik) occurred.
• When there is doubt about how a rule applies.

If the chief referee has already declared a valid strike but the competitor then acted improperly, the referees may cancel the declaration after conferring. Where the rules say nothing, the referees confer and settle the matter with the court chief (주임심판, juimsimpan) or the referee director (심판장, simpanjang). If a team manager (감독, gamdok) lodges an objection (이의, iui), the court chief or director has the referees confer on the point and passes the result to the manager.

Procedure

• The chief referee moves both competitors back to the inside of the boundary line (경계선, gyeonggyeseon).
• If an assistant referee asks for a conference, the chief referee stops the match at once.
• The competitors (경기자, gyeonggija) sheathe at the start line (개시선, gaesiseon), step back inside the boundary line and wait in a crouch (준거, jungeo) or kneeling (정좌, jeongjwa).
• During the conference the referees gather both flags in the right hand and raise them.
• After a conference, only the chief referee shows a flag and makes the declaration. When cancelling a valid strike, the chief referee returns to the signal held before the conference, declares it and waves both flags left and right.
• When a foul is obvious, for example when the bamboo sword (죽도, jukdo) is dropped, the conference is skipped and the flags signal it.

The conference should be concluded as quickly as possible.