Nam Tae Hi (1929-2013) was a South Korean taekwondo pioneer who co-founded the Oh Do Kwan with Choi Hong Hi, trained the South Vietnamese army and later taught in the United States.

Why is Nam Tae Hi called the father of taekwondo in Vietnam?

In 1962 he became chief instructor to the South Vietnamese army and trained large numbers of Vietnamese soldiers in taekwondo.

What is the Oh Do Kwan?

The South Korean army's taekwondo school, founded by Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi.

Nam Tae Hi, 1929–2013: Father of Taekwondo in Vietnam

Nam Tae Hi was one of the soldiers who built taekwondo inside the South Korean army. With General Choi Hong Hi he co-founded the Oh Do Kwan, he went abroad with taekwondo’s first demonstration team, and in Vietnam he trained so many soldiers that he became known as the father of taekwondo there. He died in California on 7 November 2013.

Full name: Nam Tae Hi (남태희)
Born: 19 March 1929, Seoul, Korea (one source gives 1923)
Died: 7 November 2013, Orange County, California
Art: Taekwondo
Trained under: Lee Won-kuk, Chung Do Kwan, from 1946
Co-founded: The Oh Do Kwan, with Choi Hong Hi
Known as: “Father of Taekwondo in Vietnam”
Notable students: Including Han Cha-kyo and Jhoon Rhee

The army school

Nam began training in 1946 at the Chung Do Kwan under its founder, Lee Won-kuk, and joined the South Korean army. With Choi Hong Hi he founded the Oh Do Kwan, the army’s school, where he was one of its leading instructors. In 1954 Nam broke thirteen roof tiles with a punch in front of President Syngman Rhee, a demonstration often credited with winning the President’s support for the art that would soon be named taekwondo.

Abroad

In March 1959 Nam was a member of the first Korean taekwondo team to demonstrate abroad, in Vietnam and Taiwan. In 1962 he became chief instructor to the South Vietnamese army, and the number of soldiers he and his team trained earned him the title father of taekwondo in Vietnam. He was a founding director of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association and later president of the Asian Taekwondo Federation, and is counted among the twelve original masters of taekwondo.

Wikipedia credits Nam with creating several of the art’s early patterns, including Hwa-Rang and Chung-Mu. Choi Hong Hi’s own organization attributes the patterns to Choi, who published them in 1959. We print both accounts.

America

By Wikipedia’s account Nam moved to the Chicago area in 1972, opened a school in 1973 and later moved to Southern California, where he spent the rest of his life. He was inducted into a taekwondo hall of fame in 2007.

Death

Nam died on 7 November 2013 in Orange County, California. His age is given as 84, which matches a 1929 birth, by most sources and as 86 by his family’s school. We have not found a cause of death in a published obituary.

What a school owner should take from Nam Tae Hi

Nam Tae Hi’s career shows the power of the demonstration. Thirteen tiles in front of a president did more for taekwondo’s official support than any argument could have. Every school owner who has put on a demonstration at a school or a fair is using the same tool.

He also shows the value of institutional customers. Army training programs in Korea and Vietnam put taekwondo in front of large numbers of young men at a time, far more than any private school could reach.

Quick answers

Who was Nam Tae Hi?: Nam Tae Hi (1929–2013) was a South Korean taekwondo pioneer who co-founded the Oh Do Kwan with Choi Hong Hi, trained the South Vietnamese army and later taught in the United States.
Why is Nam Tae Hi called the father of taekwondo in Vietnam?: In 1962 he became chief instructor to the South Vietnamese army and trained large numbers of Vietnamese soldiers in taekwondo.
What is the Oh Do Kwan?: The South Korean army’s taekwondo school, founded by Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi.
When did Nam Tae Hi die?: He died on 7 November 2013 in Orange County, California.

Sources, and what we could not confirm

Sources: the English and Korean Wikipedia biographies of Nam Tae Hi and the sources they cite, for his life, the tile-breaking demonstration, the 1959 tour, Vietnam, his organizational roles and his American career; the notice of his death published by the Kido Kwan organization; and a tribute published by his family’s school.

Conflicts printed rather than smoothed over. His birth year is 1929 in most sources and 1923 in one. His age at death is given as 84 and 86. His place of death is given as Garden Grove and La Palma, both in Orange County, California. The authorship of the early patterns is disputed, as described above.

Not independently documented. His American career, which rests on Wikipedia alone; and his cause of death, which Wikipedia gives as pneumonia but which we have not found in any published obituary and have not printed.

Corrections. See our editorial policy. If you trained under Nam Tae Hi, we want to hear from you.