|
Background History of Tae Kwon Do In 1945 Korea became liberated from the Japanese and Korean intrest in martial arts began to resurface as the ban on them imposed by the Japanese was lifted. The first Kwan to open was the Chung Do Kwan, which was founded by Won Kook Lee in Young Chun, Seoul. When Lee retired, Duk Sung Son became the 2nd headmaster and president of the Kwan, which he built up to become one of the largest and most important of the Kwans in Korea. |
|
|
 |
|
| Won Kook Lee | Duk Sung Son | |
|---|---|---|
| Won Kook Lee, a Korean educated in law at Chuo University in Japan, founded Chung Do Kwan (The Blue Wave School) in 1944. He was a Student of Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern Karate and the founder of Shotokan Karate. Grandmaster Lee became a 3rd Dan under Funakoshi in Shotokan before returning to Korea. Born April 13, 1907, great Grandmaster Lee was one of the oldest living masters of Tae Kwon Do. He was declared a "Living National Treasure" by the government of the Republic of Korea and is the founder of modern Tae Kwon Do in Korea. At the Start of the Korean war, 1950, Grandmaster Lee fled to Japan and chose Grandmaster Duk Sung Son as his successor. Grandmaster Lee emigrated to the United States in 1976, moving to Alexandria, Virginia. On February 2, 2003 Grandmaster Lee passed away at the age of 95. |
In 1963 Grandmaster Duk Sung Son came to the United States and established his own school in New York City. Grandmaster Son is president of the World Tae Kwon Do Association and has over 300 Schools throughout the world. Master Son is the author of two books "Korean Karate" and "Black Belt Karate"
|
