Jong Park Tae Kwon Do

International TaeKwon-Do Federation & General Choi Hong Hi

Grand Master Park Jong Soo

Master David Thiele

      General Choi Hong Hi was born on November 9th, 1918, in the Hwa Dae Myong Chun District of Korea.
      At the age of twelve he started to study Taek Kyon, an ancient Korean method of fighting with the feet. Later, when he was studying in Japan, he met a Karate teacher who helped him earn his first degree Black Belt in less than two years. He then intensified his training, striving to earn his second degree. Around the same time, he started teaching.
      Conscripted into the Japanese army during World War II, he was posted to Pyongyang where he was imprisoned. Wanting to maintain his good physical and mental health during his imprisonment, he practiced karate, alone at first, then by teaching it to the staff of the prison and the other prisoners.
      Becoming an officer in the new Korean Army after the end of the war, he continued to teach his martial art to his soldiers as well as to American soldiers serving in Korea.
      His beliefs and his vision of a different approach to teaching martial arts led General Choi to combine elements of Taek Kyon and Karate techniques to develop a modern martial art. He called it Tae Kwon Do, which means "the way of the feet and the hands", and this name was officially adopted on April 11th, 1955.
      In 1959, General Choi was named President of the Korean Taekwon-Do Association. Seven years later, on March 22nd,1966, he created the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF). As the Founder of Taekwon-Do and President of the ITF, he had the ability to share his art with students everywhere. Today, Taekwon-Do training is available around the world.

      Master Park was born in 1941 in Chung-Nam, Korea. He holds a 9th Dan black belt in Tae Kwon-Do. At the age of 14, and since then, he has been the instructor of the Police Training Centre of Chun Bok in Korea and of the famed Tiger Division of the Korean Army.
     

      In 1964, he became Korean National Champion, and in 1965 he made a trip on request of the Korean Government, as a member of the Goodwill Mission for Tae Kwon-Do, demonstrating this art before the highest civil and military authorities of the countries they visited. In that same year, he was invited to Germany as the coach of the German Tae Kwon-Do Association.

     In 1966, he left Germany to go to Holland where he founded the Netherlands Tae Kwon-Do Association. In the beginning of 1968, he left for Canada and now has his own schools in the Greater Toronto Area.
In November 1973, Master Park made another world trip to promote Tae Kwon-Do in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Master Park is known as one of the world's greatest Tae Kwon-Do experts.

      Grand Master Park is currently the President of the ITF TaeKwon-do Olympic Committee. 

       Master David Thiele is the Founder, Owner and Head master of The North Tonawanda Jong Park Division. With over 40 years of experience in the Martial Arts, a member of PMAE (Professional Martial Arts Educators), ITF (International TaeKwon-Do Federation) and affiliated with the United States Combat Sambo Federation.