Nam Tae-hi (남태희; 南太熙; 19 March 1929 – 7 November 2013) was a pioneering

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

World Taekwon-Do Alliance: Grand Master Nam Tae-hi
Retrieved on 22 February 2009.
Retrieved on 8 January 2010.Burdick, D. (1990)

Retrieved on 8 January 2010.Van Binh Self Defense Academy: History of Taekwon-Do
Retrieved on 8 January 2010. and is known as the "Father of Vietnamese Taekwondo". With

Choi Hong-hi Choi Hong-hi (9 November 1918 – 15 June 2002) was a South Korean Army general, defector to North Korea, and martial artist who was an important figure in the history of the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, albeit controversial due to h ...

, he co-founded the "Oh Do Kwan" and led the twelve

original masters of taekwondo The original masters of taekwondo is a group of twelve South Korean martial art masters assembled by the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA) in the early 1960s to promote the newly established art of taekwondo.Choi, H. H. (1972): ''Taekwon-Do: T ...

of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association (KTA).A tribute to the original masters
(c. 2007). Retrieved on 13 June 2007; link has expired, as at 1 July 2011.

Early life

Nam was born in March 1929 in Seoul, Korea, during the period of Japanese occupation. He began training in the martial arts in 1946, training after school for five nights each week.Weiss, E. (2000)
Nam Tae-hi: Chung Do Kwan's quiet man
''Tae Kwon Do Times''. Retrieved on 20 January 2010. Nam's training continued in the

Chung Do Kwan Chung Do Kwan, created by Won Kuk Lee in 1944, is one of the first of nine schools or '' kwan'' teaching Tang Soo Do. Later, the school began to teach what came to be known as taekwondo. This style of Tang Soo Do is known for its overall pow ...

under

Lee Won-kuk Ernesto Carlos (born as Lee Won-Kuk; also spelled Lee Won-guk (이원국), May 10, 1948, in Seoul, South Korea), known in Japan as Pou Cho (菊茶), is a South Korea-born Mexican professional baseball player. Carlos is probably the first Korean ...

. It has been claimed that Nam introduced Bok-man Kim (a pioneering master and one of the technical founders of taekwondo, working with Choi) to

taekkyeon Taekkyon, Taekgyeon, Taekkyeon, or Taekyun (Korean: 태껸/ 택견/ 托肩, ) is a traditional Korean martial art. It is characterized by fluid, dynamic foot movement called "''pum balki''" or Stepping-on-Triangles. Taekkyon includes hands an ...

in 1948,Archer, P. (1973): "Three stages of Tae Kwon Do." ''Black Belt'', 11(7):28–32. but other sources indicate Nam did not meet Bok-man Kim until 1954.Anslow, Stuart
Supreme Master Kim, Bok-man Interview
''Totally Tae Kwon Do'', 27:11-23.

Career

While a captain in the South Korean military forces, Nam met Choi, and acted as Choi's second-in-command in the early days of taekwondo. Nam was pivotal in the development of taekwondo, and was called Choi's "right hand man" in the latter's official biography.Park, S. H. (1993): "About the author." In H. H. Choi: ''Taekwon-Do: The Korean art of self-defence'', 3rd ed. (Vol. 1, pp. 241–274). Mississauga: International Taekwon-Do Federation. In 1954, at the rank of 2nd ''dan'', Nam participated in a military demonstration of martial arts for the president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, and broke 13 roof tiles with a downward punch; Rhee was reportedly so impressed that he subsequently ordered all Korean military personnel to undergo training in martial arts.History of Chang Moo Kwan
Retrieved on 20 January 2010.Vitale, G. (2009)

''Totally Tae Kwon Do'', 5:41–45. In March 1959, Nam was a member of the first Korean taekwondo demonstration team to travel overseas, demonstrating his martial art in Vietnam and Taiwan. Around this time, he was appointed president of the Asia Taekwon-Do Federation, and was also one of the founding directors of the KTA. In 1962, Nam was appointed as Chief Instructor of taekwondo for the Vietnamese army, and came to be known as the Father of Taekwondo in Vietnam. Nam designed the Chang Hon taekwondo patterns Hwa-Rang ''hyung'', Chung-Mu ''hyung'', and UI-Ji ''hyung''.

Later life

Nam moved to the Chicago area in 1972, opened a ''dojang'' in 1973, and then later lived in Los Angeles. He appears on Chang Keun Choi's list of taekwondo pioneers.Choi, C. K. (2007)
Tae Kwon Do Pioneers
Retrieved on 15 March 2008. In 2007, he was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame.
(6 April 2007). Retrieved on 22 April 2010. After being admitted to hospital due to pneumonia, Nam died on 7 November 2013 in Garden Grove, California, USA.Kido Kwan Martial Art International: Passing of Nam, Taej-hi
(''sic'') (7 November 2013). Retrieved on 12 November 2013.Tae Kwon Do Times: Colonel Nam Tae-Hi (1929–2013)
(8 November 2013). Retrieved on 12 November 2013.World Taekwondo Alliance
(November 2013). Retrieved on 12 November 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nam, Tae-hi 1929 births 2013 deaths Martial arts school founders Sportspeople from Los Angeles Sportspeople from Seoul South Korean male taekwondo practitioners 20th-century philanthropists

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

References