A brief biography of General Choi Hong Hi
Choi Hong Hi was born in a rugged and harsh area of Hwa Gae, Myong Chun District. In his pre-teen years he was frought with illness, which was a constant worry for his parents. But even at an early age he had a strong, free spirit. At age 12 he was expelled from school for speaking out against the Japanese authorities that were in control of Korea at the time. This was to be the beginning of what would be a long association with the Kwang Ju Student's Independence Movement.
After his expulsion his father sent him to study calligraphy under one of the most famous teachers in Korea, Mr. Han II Dong. Han, in addition to his skills as a calligrapher, he was also a master of Tae Kyon, the ancient Korean martial art of foot fighting. The teacher, concerned over the frail condition of his new student, began teaching him the rigorous exercises of Tae Kyon to help build up his strength and stamina. This was Choi first encounter with martial arts and it would clearly have a lasting affect on him.
When he got older his father sent him to Japan further his education, it was here that he began train under a fellow Korean in the Japanese art of Karate, in which he later achieved the rank of second degree black belt. When the second world war broke out Choi was forced to enlist in the Japanese army, but while posted in Korea he was arrested for being a planner of the Korean independence movement and spent 8 months in a Japanese prison awaiting trial, this is were he first began to combine the moves he had learned in Tae Kyon, Karate, and other martial arts he had, had experience in. But he didn't just combine them, he took out things which he thought were in-effective and tried make the moves more powerfully by using scientific methods and the principles of reaction force, this became an early form of one of the styles which would later be unified under general Choi's guidance to become Tae Kwon Do.
With the liberation of Korea Choi escaped a 7 year sentence. Following his release he was quickly promoted through the ranks of the Korean army to become a general. He used he status to promote this new art first to his soldiers, and then to the public by opening a gym or Kwan over the next though years several Kwan's open practicing there own different versions of what would become Tae Kwon Do but most of the masters of these Kwan's use different names such as Tang Soo, and Kwon Bub, so Choi called a meeting of masters were it was decided to unify under the name Tae Kwon Do, and then the Korean Tae Kwon do Association (KTA) was formed, with general Choi as its fist president.
With the help of general Choi Tae Kwon Do spread like wild fire, first to Vietnam, and then through the rest of Asia. But with the over throw of the south korean government the general was force to flee to Canada were he set up the International Tae Kwon Do Federation and continued to promote Tae Kwon Do world wide helping to make it what it is today, one of the worlds most largely practiced martial art.
On the 15th of September 2002. General Choi Hong Hi sadly passed away, in Pyong Yang City North Korea.
Tae Kwon-Do in this country first operated under the auspices of the United Kingdom Tae Kwon-Do Association (UKTA). The Association was formed in 1967 when Grand Master Rhee Ki Ha (then V Dan black belt) came to the UK from Korea. The UKTA is part of a larger group - The International Tae Kwon-Do federation (ITF) - which was founded by General Choi Hong Hi, IX Dan. It was General Choi who personally evolved and brought Tae Kwon-Do to fruition during the 1930's and 1940's, until it was officially named by the Korean Government on the 11th April, 1955.
Tae Kwon-Do is truly a Martial Art, having been used in the Korean War and is now a compulsory part of the training schedule of every Korean Solider. it was in this environment that Grand Master Rhee began his training and came to be regarded as the number one pioneer instructor - being the first instructor to leave Korea for the purpose of teaching Tae Kwon-Do.
He took the bold step of leaving his homeland and family to come halfway across the world to the UK in order to spread the art he loved. Then, in 1967, the teaching of Tae Kwon-Do in Britain began in earnest, initially with a military theme on bases across the country, eventually spreading to many non-military schools.
Using contacts made in Singapore while founding the Singapore Tae Kwon-Do Association, Mr. Rhee, then V Dan, started to earn his living doing what he did best - teaching Tae Kwon-Do! the Main stay of his operation was the Royal Air Force. Service men who had learned the Art in Singapore invited Mr. Rhee to teach the here in the UK and the classes proved to be very popular. They grew into what we call the United Kingdom Tae Kwon-Do Association.
Grand Master Rhee's development went hand in hand with the formation of the UKTA. He recalls one particular memory -
"We had no money for badges or stationary or peripheral items and I used an embroidery machine for embroidering the badges on to the suits which we used to use. I did three , I think. I kept one and gave the other two to students."
There was no magic leap in Grand Master Rhee's promotion. Soon after the formation of the UKTA, he was promoted to VI Dan and was then engaged in helping on an international scale - being honoured with inclusion into the ITF world Masters Demonstration Team, which frequently toured the world.
The mid-seventies was a boom time for all Martial Arts - a programme from that time showing Master Rhee's promotion to VII Dan. This programme quotes the existence of 50 non-RAF schools of Tae Kwon-Do and over 20 RAF schools.
At that time, the UKTA was run by a committee and the country was divided into twelve areas, each one represented by one committee member. Four Tae Kwon-Do tournaments were held annually and gained so much popularity that they were split over two days for the British Open - Tae Kwon-Do was here to stay!
In 1981 Master Rhee was promoted to VIII Dan Black Belt by the ITF President and Founder, General Choi Hong Hi, making Master Rhee one of the very few to correctly and properly reach this goal - training, researching and teaching Tae Kwon-Do for the minimum period of seven years since his promotion to VII Dan. Master Rhee says that you can liken Martial Arts to flowers. It is a matter of preference. If you say the rose is the nicest flower and then destroy all others, then you have nothing to compare the rose to - and it loses it uniqueness. If there was only Tae Kwon-Do, you could not compare it to any other martial art and could not, therefore, appreciate its depth, power, grace, and scientific superiority.
1997 was probably one of the greatest year in the history of the UKTA, not only was it the year that the association celebrated its 30th anniversary but also its founder and president attain the highest accolade in Tae Kwon-Do. In July of the year, Master Rhee was promoted to IX Dan Black Belt, Grand Master, the first time a British citizen has gained such a grade.
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