Who was Choi Hong Hi?

Choi Hong Hi (1918-2002) was a South Korean army general who named taekwon-do in 1955, wrote its first textbooks and its fifteen-volume encyclopedia, and founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation in 1966.

What is the difference between ITF and WT taekwondo?

ITF taekwon-do follows the system Choi Hong Hi codified. WT (formerly WTF) taekwondo is the version backed by the South Korean government from 1973, whose sport form is the Olympic event.

Why did Choi Hong Hi leave South Korea?

He went into exile in Canada in 1972 after falling out with the South Korean government, which refused to let his organization teach taekwon-do in North Korea.

When did Choi Hong Hi die?

He died of cancer in Pyongyang, North Korea, on 15 June 2002, aged 83.

Choi Hong Hi, 1918–2002: The General Who Named Taekwon-Do

Choi Hong Hi was a South Korean army general who gave taekwon-do its name, wrote its first textbooks, designed its patterns and founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation to carry it abroad. His politics then cost him his country, and his organization split three ways after his death. He died in Pyongyang, North Korea, on 15 June 2002, aged 83. Taekwondo today is taught in two main forms, and one of them is still his.

Full name: Choi Hong Hi
Born: 9 November 1918 (lunar calendar), Hwadae, Myongchon County, in present-day North Korea
Died: 15 June 2002, Pyongyang, North Korea, aged 83, of cancer
Military: Republic of Korea Army from January 1946; brigadier general 1951, major general 1954
Art: Taekwon-do (ITF); earlier, karate learned in Japan
Founded: The International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), Seoul, 22 March 1966
Book: Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do, 15 volumes, completed 1983

From karate to a Korean art

Choi was born in the north of Korea under Japanese rule. He went to Japan as a young man and learned karate in Kyoto, taking his first black belt in 1939; he later said he had also trained under Gichin Funakoshi, the founder of Shotokan, which some historians doubt. Conscripted into the Japanese army during the war, he was imprisoned in 1945 for his part in a conspiracy against it. After liberation he was commissioned into the new South Korean army in January 1946 and rose quickly, to brigadier general in 1951 and major general in 1954.

In the army he co-founded the Oh Do Kwan, which taught karate-based training to Korean soldiers. On 11 April 1955 a naming board adopted the name he had proposed for the combined Korean art: taekwon-do. He was the first president of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association when it was formed in 1959.

A system on paper

Choi’s great practical contribution was to write the art down. He published a textbook in 1959, the first English-language taekwon-do book in 1965, and eventually the fifteen-volume Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do, completed in 1983. He designed a set of patterns, or tul, named after figures and events in Korean history, and a theory of power to go with them. The ITF syllabus that results is still taught in much of the world.

He also sent the art abroad. In 1965 he led a government-sponsored goodwill demonstration tour around the world, and on 22 March 1966 he founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation in Seoul. His reach extended to the Korean instructors already teaching abroad: Jhoon Rhee, then teaching in the United States, adopted the name taekwondo after Choi’s visit in 1960.

Exile

Choi fell out with South Korea’s military government. In 1972 he left for Canada and moved the ITF’s headquarters to Toronto, after the government refused to allow his organization to teach taekwon-do in North Korea. South Korea responded by backing a rival: the World Taekwondo Federation, founded in 1973, whose sport version became an Olympic medal event at Sydney in 2000.

From 1979 Choi worked openly with North Korea, which welcomed him and financially supported the ITF; Wikipedia describes the move as a defection. In 1985 the ITF moved its headquarters to Vienna. The decision made him a hero in one Korea and an outcast in the other, and it divided taekwondo along the same line.

Death, and the three ITFs

Choi died of cancer in Pyongyang on 15 June 2002 and was given a state funeral at the Patriotic Martyrs’ Cemetery there. The succession was already contested. His son, Choi Jung Hwa, had been voted in as his successor in 2001 in a vote that others called illegitimate; after Choi’s death three rival organizations each claimed to be the ITF, one led by Chang Ung, one by Trần Triệu Quân, and one by Choi Jung Hwa. Legal disputes over the name followed in several countries.

What a school owner should take from Choi Hong Hi

Choi shows the power of naming and documenting the thing you teach. He did not invent Korean martial arts, but he named the art, wrote its books, designed its patterns and built the federation that exported them, and for a generation that made him its public face. The instructor who writes the curriculum down, gives it a name and teaches others to teach it owns the category.

His exile is a warning about letting a fight outside the school decide the school’s future. His quarrel with the South Korean government handed his rivals the Olympic movement.

And his succession repeats the lesson of this archive: a founder who leaves the question contested leaves his organization to divide.

Quick answers

Who was Choi Hong Hi?: Choi Hong Hi (1918–2002) was a South Korean army general who named taekwon-do in 1955, wrote its first textbooks and its fifteen-volume encyclopedia, and founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation in 1966.
What is the difference between ITF and WT taekwondo?: ITF taekwon-do follows the system Choi Hong Hi codified. WT (formerly WTF) taekwondo is the version backed by the South Korean government from 1973, whose sport form is the Olympic event.
Why did Choi Hong Hi leave South Korea?: He went into exile in Canada in 1972 after falling out with the South Korean government, which refused to let his organization teach taekwon-do in North Korea.
When did Choi Hong Hi die?: He died of cancer in Pyongyang, North Korea, on 15 June 2002, aged 83.

Sources, and what we could not confirm

Sources: the English Wikipedia biographies of Choi Hong Hi and the International Taekwon-Do Federation and their cited sources, for his life, military career, the naming of taekwon-do, exile, North Korea, death and the ITF split; the biography published by an ITF organization (labelled promotional) for the dates of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association, the goodwill tour, the ITF’s founding and headquarters moves, and his books; and our own profile of Jhoon Rhee for Choi’s 1960 visit.

Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. His birth date is 9 November 1918 by the lunar calendar and 22 December 1918 by the Western calendar. The naming of taekwon-do is dated 11 April 1955 by most sources; the ITF says he conceived the name in late 1954. He claimed training under Gichin Funakoshi; others say his teacher in Kyoto was a Korean instructor. Sources differ on whether his relationship with North Korea from 1979 was a defection.

Promotional claims not repeated. ITF organizations report a Nobel Peace Prize nomination, a 9th-dan karate rank and other honours we have not been able to verify. The accounts of the 2001 succession vote and the three-way split come from the parties to it.

Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained under General Choi, we want to hear from you.