Background
Kim was born in Seoul, South of Korea in 1920.
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Kim Ki Whang
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Nihon University.
Career
He was Chairman in the United States of the Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan Association, Chairman of the United States Olympic Taekwondo team 1988 and helped unify several Korean martial arts into the overall style of taekwondo. At the time of Korea was occupied by Japan. Under their regime martial arts had been banned since 1909, though the practice of taekkyon was not banned until the year of Kim"s birth.
Despite the Japanese ban, Koreans still practiced martial arts in secret, and Kim was able to study Judo at the Kodokan from 1931, earning a Black Belt five years later.
He became captain of the team, earned the nickname "Typhoon" and earned a fourth degree Black Belt rank in this style. He also went to China for two years, probably as a draftee in the Japanese army, where he learned kempo and shaolin kung fu.
After graduation from Nihon University in the 1940s, he returned to South of Korea and was employed at the Transportation Administration in Seoul. In 1963, he emigrated to the United States, where he remained for the rest of his life.
His United States. students included Richard Chun,Albert Cheeks, Michael Warren, James K. Roberts Junior., Chuck Norris, Mitchell Bobrow, John Critzos II, George Thanos, and Pat East. Johnson.
He taught more than 25,000 students and issued 424 black belts. Five Grand Masters awarded Kim 10th dan black belt while in the hospital with liver cancer at the age of 73, and died on 16 September 1993. Kim was held in high regard in the Martial Arts World, more than 650 people attended his funeral.
Inducted into 2009.
Achievements
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The ban did not extend to Koreans who lived in Japan, and Kim learned Shudokan Karate from its founder, Kanken Toyama, at Nihon University in Japan. Upon the government overthrow of South Korean President Rhee Syng-man, Kim accepted a letter of recommendation from Mooduk-Kwan founder, Hwang Kee, to be the Mooduk-Kwan representative in the United States.
Connections
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Born
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Died
September 16, 1993 (aged 73) -
Nationality
South of Korea