History Of Taekwondo: Choi Hong Hi (P4)

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History Of Taekwondo
Choi Hong Hi

In 1951, Choi was promoted to brigadier general. During this time, he organized the Ground General School in Pusan and served as Assistant Commandant and Chief of the Academic Department. In 1952, Choi was appointed as Chief of Staff of the First Corps and was responsible for briefing General Douglas Mac Arthur the Supreme Commander of the United Nations Troops, during the latter's visits to Kang Nung. Mac Author was visiting the front line and Choi was selected to update him on the battle situation. After the thirty minutes briefing, Choi asked the general if he had any questions. To which the general replied, "No questions; very clear." He then approached to Choi and while shaking Choi's hand asked him his name. At the time of armistice in 1953, Choi was in command of the Fifth Infantry Division. The year 1953 was eventful for the Choi in both his military career and in the progress of his new martial art. He authored Military Intelligence, the first authoritative book on military intelligence in Korea.

In September of 1953, General Baek Sun Yuh, the Chief of Staff of the Korean Army, asked General Choi to create the 28th Division. Choi asked General Baek if this would be the last division created during the war? General Baek replied that one more division would be created in a few months. Choi asked Baek if he could create the last division, the 29th Infantry Division, and General Baek granted the request.

Choi organized and activated the crack 29th Infantry Division at Cheju Island off the South Korean coast. The division eventually became the spearhead of Taekkyon in the military. The first thing Choi did was to create a distinctive division flag. On the flag, the number two of the number 29 symbolized the divided Korean peninsula. The number nine symbolized a fist. The flag he thus was a fist over the Korean peninsula. After seeing the flag, people gave the 29th the nickname, "The Fist Division" or "Ik Keu Division" and later "The Taekwondo Division."

Choi's second task was to choose the division's command staff. To assist him in training the troop in military drills, he enlisted the aid of Colonel Ha Chung Kab and Lieutenant Colonel Kim Hwang Mok. He also recruited Master Nam Tae Hi and Master Nam Cha Kyo, both from Chung Do Kwan (Gym of the Blue Wave) to help him to train the soldiers in Tangsoodo. Although Choi still called the martial art Tangsoodo, the characteristic and quality of the techniques were now far different from the karate that he had practiced in Japan. A combination of Korean Taekkyon and Japanese Shotokan and Tang-soo formed the basis of his teachings, but at this point his art was much different from these arts.

To his officers and Tangsoodo insructors, he gave very specific orders. "When the soldiers train in Tangsoodo, everyone has to bow to the instructors, regardless of military rank. Outside of the gym, salutations go according to military rank." The combination of military drills and Tangsoodo practice made this division unique among other division in the Korean Army; they were ready to fight with or without weapons.

In 1954, Choi established the academy of martial arts, "Oh-do-kwan" or "school of my way" where he taught his style of culturally-patterned Korean karate to a group of Korean Army instructors, assisted by Nam Tae Hi, his right hand man. In the latter part of 1954, Choi commanded the "Chong-do-kwan" (school of the blue wave), the largest civilian gym in Korea. He was also promoted to major general and was made the deputy commander of the Second Army in Tae-gu.

Choi’s impact on Taekwondo is discussed in greater detail in next chapter on Growth and in the chapter on the International Taekwondo Federation.