Grandmaster Kim Bok Man

Grandmaster Kim Bok Man is called "the Grandfather of modern Tae Kwon Do" by his pupils and followers in South East Asia and Europe. Since 1955 and for eleven years he was the head of Korean Taekwondo show team. Thanks to his efforts and personal talent the first Taekwondo Associations were established in 11 countries all over the world, which led to the establishment of Taekwondo International Association in 1966.

Grandmaster Kim Bok Man

Master Kim Bok Man got familiar with martial arts at the age of 7, when he was introduced to the ancient Korean combat technique of To-San. As the development of foot-fighting skills was the basic technique of To-San, it is considered that it is To-San that forms the basis of modern Taekwondo.

In 1959 Kim Bok Man joined the Army. Rising to the rank of Sergeant Major he began teaching unarmed combat techniques to other servicemen. Kim Bok Man retired from the Army in 1962, after which he devoted his life entirely to Taekwondo.

In the following years the master traveled a lot in Asia and Europe. During those years he organized the International Taekwondo Association, Hong Kong Taekwondo Association and helped to open the same association in Bangkok. Thanks to his efforts the similar Associations were established in France, Holland, Poland, Portugal, Uganda, Kenya and Australia. And in 1970 Kim Bok Man founded the Philippines Taekwondo Association.

But in 1968 as a result of the conflict with General Choi Hong Hi, who was known to be very jealous to any free manifestations, master Kim Bok Man left Taekwondo International Association, which played an important role in establishment of the World Association of practical Taekwondo. Years later he was disappointed that Taekwondo was losing its importance as a martial art. After moving to the USA he worked out his personal Taekwondo style and established World Practical Taekwondo Federation.

In the late 90ies he renamed the style into Chunkuhndo, and the organization is called since then World Chunkuhndo Federation. In the beginning of the 70ies he played a leading role in the first feature film where the Taekwondo technique was shown for the first time. Now, even though he is 70 years old, he still shows his art of hand and foot fighting demonstrating outstanding Taekwondo technique.

Thanks for attention!!!