Nam Tae-hi (; 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. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

master Master, master's or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles In education: *Master (college), head of a college *Master's degree, a postgraduate or sometimes undergraduate degree in the specified discipline *Schoolmaster or master, presiding office ...

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

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, and martial artist who was an important figure in the history of the Korean martial art of Taekwondo, albeit controversial due to his introduction of taek ...

, he co-founded the "Oh Do Kwan" and led the twelve original masters of taekwondo 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

Keijō , or Gyeongseong (), was an administrative district of Korea under Japanese rule that corresponds to the present Seoul, the capital of South Korea. History When the Empire of Japan annexed the Korean Empire, it made Seoul the colonial capita ...

(

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

Korea, Empire of Japan From 1910 to 1945, Korea was ruled by the Empire of Japan under the name Chōsen (), the Japanese reading of "Joseon". Japan first took Korea into its sphere of influence during the late 1800s. Both Korea (Joseon) and Japan had been under polic ...

. 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. 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 (; ), also spelled Taekkyeon, Taekgyeon, or Taekyun, is a traditional Korean martial arts, Korean martial art. It is characterized by fluid, dynamic foot movement called ''pumbalki'', or "stepping-on-triangles". Taekkyon includes hands a ...

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 Syngman Rhee (; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965), also known by his art name Unam (), was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisiona ...

, 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 Martial artists from Los Angeles Martial artists from Seoul South Korean male taekwondo practitioners 20th-century South Korean sportsmen

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

References