I n June of 2002 General Choi, founder of Tae Kwon Do died. During his life, General Choi was exiled, imprisoned, sentenced to death, maligned, honored, hated, and loved. I once went into a large and prestigious school in Denver, Colorado, to train while on vacation. The school owner invited me by phone and was very kind but when I arrived, he was not there. Instead, his son greeted me and asked about my background. When I told him that I studied the Chang Moo Kwan-style ITF forms he said, “Oh, you do communist style.” The conversation spiraled downward from there. That was the first time that I heard that phrase, but it was not the last. General Choi was born in 1918 long before there was a North or South Korea. Tong Il, or unification, of the two countries was his fondest wish. He saw the healing that Tae Kwon Do training is capable of and hoped that by sharing this all-Korea martial art with the people of the North, it might provide a common experience that would hasten the unification. The South Korean government ordered him to stop and threatened to pull his visa and the visas of all of his instructors. He made an unbelievably difficult decision and one that would shape the rest of his life and the landscape of Tae Kwon Do forever. He refused. You know the story: South Korea recreated the World Taekwondo Federation, changed all the forms and, basically, started over. There has been a rift between ITF (traditional schools) and WTF (sport Tae Kwon Do schools) ever since. Regardless of the side you grew up on, it is undeniable that General Choi, Hong Hi dedicated his life to sharing Tae Kwon Do with the world.

Taekwond-Do Times