Jhoon Rhee Taekwondo Vs. ITF Taekwondo

[John G]

I have read, the term "Tae Kwon Do" originated within the Chung Do Kwan. Gen. Choi claims he invented it. Other Instructors dispute that.

 

I have no doubt that the Chung Do Kwan lay claim to have originated the term "Tae Kwon Do" please read on.

 

The General writes:

 

“At the end of 1950 I had taken over the Chung-Do-Kwan in Dong-Rae at the wish of its owner, Won-Gook Lee, witnessed by his apprentice, Deok-Sung Sohng. Chun-Do Kwan under my control had begun to serve as a base for spreading Taekwon-Do to civilians all over the country. Since as a soldier I was prohibited from owning any private enterprise, Deok-Sung Sohng had been managing the Chung-Do-Kwan under his name, and I had been approving major issues, and placing my stamp on every degree certificate as honorary director”

 

Apparently Dang-Soo-Do/Gong-Soo-Do was taught to the army and the civilians through the various Kwans of the day. Dang-Soo-Do/Gong-Soo-Do is also known as Japanese Karate (Kong-Soo/ Tahng-Soo).

 

The General writes:

 

“At first I founded the Oh-Do Kwan to speed up training instructors of Dang-Soo-Do to distribute it to the entire army, which came to serve as the womb of the International Taekwon-Do Federation. Although is was still being called in Korean Dang-Soo-Do, yet significant parts of the movement had been improved. Also with the help of Tae-Hee-Nahm, completing the Hwa-Rang and Choong-Moo Hyung (Tul), I developed the basis of Taekwon-Do.”

 

Reading this one gets the impression that General Choi used the Chung-Do-Kwan and the Oh-Do Kwan to spread his modified version Dang-Soo-Do from 1950 onward.

 

In the spring of 1955 the term Tae Kwon Do was coined by General Choi, as he had the backing of the Chung-Do-Kwan and the Oh-Do Kwan and the fact that he was a Major-General with influence at the time, I feel the rest of the Kwan leadership would have had little choice but to buckle under and agree with the name change. After which General Choi orders the Chung-Do-Kwan and the Oh-Do Kwan to change their names to Tae Kwon Do.

 

 

 

Respectfully,

[John G]

For an objective history of TKD that is neither pro WTF or pro ITF, but cuts through all the propaganda * put out by both organizations on the supposedly ancient Korean origins of TKD, click on this excellent article by Dakin Burdick and was published in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts.

 

http://www.indiana.edu/~iutkd/history/tkdhist.html

 

Great read RF_Brown, its always refreshing to get another perspective on history.

 

Respectfully,

[equaninimus]

I'm glad that is available on line.

[MichiganTKD]

While I have read the Modern History of Tae Kwon Do and the History of Chung Do Kwan, it was nice and very refreshing to read the other. Always glad to read an unbiased history of TKD. This from a WTF member.