General Choi; In the midsummer of 1957, President Rhee invited President Go Diem to visit Korea. On the official itinerary for the visit was a demonstration of Taekwon-Do. While watching the demonstration, President Diem said, "I under now why Korean soldiers are so strong and well-disciplined." My friend, General Choi, Duk Shin overheard his remarks. Later, General Choi was appointed Ambassador to Vietnam. He asked President Diem to invite a Korean Taekwon-Do team to perform demonstrations in Vietnam. President Diem invited the team and we also received an invitation to visit the Republic of China.

Twenty-one Taekwon-Do practitioners were selected for the demonstration team and received two weeks of special training at the Army Headquarters gymnasium.

The demonstration in Vietnam was a great success. We were invited to perform for two weeks, and in that time over 300,000 people witnessed and enjoyed our demonstration. Due to the success of our tour, President Diem asked us to extend our visit by another week. During one of our demonstrations, General Tiu, the Superintendent of the Military Academy and later, President of Vietnam, remarked, "I never imagined that the human body could produce such power. This is a martial art we should practice in Vietnam."

The significance of the trip was two-fold. The first is that for the first time in the 5,000 years of Korean history, the culture, soul and techniques of Korea were shown in a foreign country. The second is that in 1962, the government of Vietnam officially asked Korea to send a group of instruct the military and civilian communities in the art of Taekwon-Do.

Before going back to Korea, we made a stop in Taipei, Republic of China. In Taipei General Yu greeted us. In his welcoming address, he said, "China and Korea have been brothers for a thousand years, Taekwon-Do might well have been introduced to Korea by China during Kija Kingdom. (Kija is a legendary Chinese man who established the Kija Kingdom in a time before the birth of Christ.)" In my reply to the audience, hiding my ill feelings, I said, "Yes, China and Korea have been brother nations throughout our history. But Taekwon-Do is a new martial art created by me in 1955. There was no Taekwon-Do before Christ."

We gave demonstrations in Dae Buk and in Dae Nam. Our demonstration in Dae Buk was attended by many high officials of Chinese government, including Chiang, Kyung Kuk, the son of the President, and the second most powerful man in the Republic.

When making the schedule for the demonstration, the Chinese wanted to add time for a performance of Byuk Jang Sool or Kung-Fu. We welcomed it because we had much confidence in our ability to beat the popularity of Kung-Fu. And during demonstration, we received many standing ovations applauding our breaking, kicking and defence against weapon techniques.

The Korean Ambassador to the Republic of China, General Kim, Hung Il, told me, "One years ago, I cried out of sadness because our volleyball team was defeated by the Chinese by one point. But now I am now crying out of joy because I saw that the skills of Taekwon-Do are far superior to those of Kung-Fu."

General Choi; By 1959, I was working at Army Headquarters In Seoul and I had more time to devote to Taekwon-Do. I created the Department of Mu Do(martial arts) in the Army and was appointed its first director.

In Seoul, one of my goals was to unify the major Taekwon-Do groups and form the Korea Taekwon-Do Association. Originally, I had planned to create the Korea Martial Arts Association. In contrast to the Korea Sports Union, which emphasized competition, I wanted the Korea Martial Arts Association to concentrate on Asian philosophy. But the leaders of Judo and Kumdo had already Joined the Korea Sports Union. I had no choice but join the Union as well.

In order to join the Union, we had to have a single name for the arts of kicking and punching. While Taekwon-Do was widely used in the Army, Oh Do Kwan, Chung Do Kwan and many civilian schools still used names like Tang Soo, Kong Soo or Kwon Bub (bxninjin's note; Tang Soo and Kong Soo are Korean pronunciation of Karate. Kwon Bub means generic name of martial arts with bare hands.).

In the late autumn of 1959, I invited the leaders of four major Kwans to my home. No, Byung Jik represented Song Moo Kwan; Yoon, Kwe Byung, Jik Do Kwan; Lee, Nam Suk, Chang Moo Kwan; and Hwang, Ki represented Moo Duk Kwan. I represented Oh Do Kwan and Chung Do Kwan.

I told them that we needed to unify under a single name in order to apply for membership to the Korea Sports Union. I explained to them that Taekwon-Do was already well-known in the Army, and that we had given demonstrations in Vietnum and the Republic of China under the name of Taekwon-Do.

No, Byung Jik and Lee, Nam Suk persisted in using the names of Tang Soo, and Hwang, Ki wanted to use Tang Soo. I told them, "I cannot understand why you insist using the names of Japanese Karate. My full purpose for this meeting was to get away from the Korean variations in pronunciation for Japanese Karate, Kong Soo and Tang Soo."

Raising my voice, I said, "Now we have our own philosophy and techniques of Korean identify, so let's unify under the name of Taekwon-Do." Finally the masters agreed and the Korea Taekwon-Do Association was formed. (bxninjin's note; Ironically, this proves their philosophy and techniques were borrowed ones from others. But he said nothing about it.)

I was elected as president of the Association, No, Byung Jik and Yoon, Kwe Byung were elected vice presidents and Hwang, Ki was appointed as the chairman of the Board of Governors.

It was the first time that the heads of the six major Kwans agreed to use the name Taekwon-Do. While processing our application, the Student Uprising of April 19, 1960, overthrew the government of President Rhee and we lost our chance for admittance. It took two more years for our application to be accepted.

General Choi; First, let me explain the relationship between General Park and me. I was a member of the 110 founding fathers of the Korean Army. General Park was my junior and had always addressed me as "Sir".

The reason I joined the coup d'etat was that one of my staff told me that General Chang, Do Young, the Chief of Staff of the Army, was leading this movement. Later I found out that General Park only used the name of General Chang to convince others to join the coup. After the coup d'etat was successful, General Park accused General Chang of being a counter-revolutionary and expelled him to the United States.

Initially, General Park had promised the Korean people that he would return to the Army once the coup was completed. In actually, General Park and his staff were busy preparing to take over the presidency.

I advised General Park to keep his promise to the people and return to the Army as soon as possible - then the people will respect you forever. Rather than taking my advice, he forced me to retire and appointed me Ambassador to Malaysia.

General Choi: With my appointment as Ambassador to Malaysia in 1962, I revived the attempt to register the Korea Taekwon-Do Association with the Korea Sports Union. By this time, a new generation of masters had ascended to leadership roles within the respective Kwans. I invited Um, Enung Kyu, President of Chung Do Kwan, Lee, Jong Woo, Head Instructor of Ji Do Kwan and Lee, Nam Suk, President of Chang Moo Kwan to my home.

During the meeting, discussions centered on what name should be used. I told them that Taekwon-Do had already been chosen as the name and if they wanted to discuss a new name, go ahead. And then I left the meeting.

A few days later, newspapers began reporting that the name Taekwon-Do had been changed to Tae Soo Do and that I had been elected President of the KoreaTae Soo Do Association. I refused to accept the position because I did not approve of the name change. Anyway, I had to leave for Malaysia and would not be back in Korea for many years. I recommended General Chae, Myung Shin for the position. He received a fifth dan black belt in Taekwon-Do from me.

To prepare for the future of Taekwon-Do, I ordered Um, Eung Kyu, President of Chung Do Kwan, Nam, Tae Hee, President of Oh Do Kwan, and Hyun, Jong Myung, President of the Students Taekwon-Do Association to form the Korea Taekwon-Do Association. And then I left for Malaysia.

General Choi; When I arrived in Malaysia, the people did not know too much about Korea. I decided the best way to get them to know about Korea was through my Calligraphy and Taekwon-Do. So, I sponsored an exhibition of my Callgraphy and displayed pictures of Taekwon-Do as well. The reporters covering the opening were very interested in Taekwon-Do and asked me to demonstrate some Taekwon-Do techniques. I stripped down to my T-shirt and performed some Taekwon-Do techniques for them. The next day, articles and pictures of my demonstration appeared in many newspapers. This was not viewed favorably in Seoul.

Demonstrating in only my T-shirt was thought to be undignified for an Ambassador by members of the Korean government.

But the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dung Ku Rama, praised my exhibition of Taekwon-Do and asked me to arrange a Taekwon-Do demonstration for the commemoration of the Malay Independence Day in 1963. The Taekwon-Do demonstration was broadcast over television and seen throughout the country of Malaysia as well as by viewers in neighboring countries. Soon these countries requested that Taekwon-Do instructors be sent to teach their citizens the martial art. Taekwon-Do was now spreading throughout Southeast Asia and in each country a national Taekwon-Do association was formed.

In February of 1964, I flew Saigon, Vietnam, to meet with Major Back, Joon Ki, the head of Korean Taekwon-Do instructors in Taekwon-Do in Vietnam. The Major was a fine military officer and a good Taekwon-Do instructor. He gatherd all of the Taekwon-Do instructors in Vietnam for a seminar where I introduced the Tul that I had created. Because the seminar was organized at the last minute, the only place we could practice was the rooftop of the hotel. It was terribly hot and very humid. The Korean Ambassador to Vietnam, General Shin, Sang Chul, came to the seminar and later worried about my health in such conditions. At the seminar, all of the instructors learned the new Tul and then began to teach it in Vietnam.

I later sent a manuscript of the new Tul to Lt. Colonel Woo, Jong Lim, Head of Oh Do Kwan in Korea, and ordered him to teach it to the Oh Do Kwan, Chung Do Kwan and to the Korean Army.

By the summer of 1964, I had finished 20 of the 24 Tul and had established a firm foundation of techniques and forms for the upcoming English Taekwon-Do textbook. It was during this time that the new Tul began to became popular in Southeast Asia and Korea.

General Choi: When I returned to Korea, the Korea Tae Soo Do Association was a member of the Korea Sports Union. The rules of Tae Soo Do competitions were not too much different from those of Japanese Karate. I knew that I had to make a change, and remembered an old Korean saying, "In order to catch a baby tiger, you have to go into the tiger's lair." So I became president of the association.

Soon afterwards, I called for a meeting of the General Assembly and proposed to change the name from Tae Soo Do to Taekwon-Do. The vote to change the name was won by one vote, and I remembered one delegate crying out, lamenting the changing of the name. The reason I could change the name is that although President Park and I did not agree in political affairs, I still had the reputation and power as a retired two-star general and ambassador.

General Choi; In 1965, while serving as the President of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association, the Korean Ambassador to West Germany, my friend, General Choi, Duk Shin, told me that there was interest in having a Taekwon-Do demonstration team tour Europe. He arranged for official invitations to be sent for the tour through six European and Asia countries.

I submitted the proper paperwork for travel expenses to the President's Cabinet. The name for the tour was "Kukki Taekwon-Do Goodwill Demonstration Team." This was the first time I used the team Kukki Taekwon-Do (National Taekwon-Do) in an official document.

The members of the team were Han, Cha Kyo, Park, Jong Soo, Kwon, Jae Hwa, and Kim, Joong Keun. I was the team leader. We toured Germany, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Malaysia, and Singapore. The demonstration was a great success and eventually led to the creation of Taekwon-Do associations in the tour countries.

On March 22, 1966, representatives from nine countries gathered in Seoul to form the International Taekwon-Do Federation. Mr. Kim, Jong Phil, the Chairman of the riling Kong Hwa Dang party, was elected as honorary President as I was elected as President. Lee, Han Ra, the Malaysian Secretary of Commerce and Industory, was elected as Vice President. Um, eung Kyu as Secretary-General, and Lee, Jong Woo as Chairman of the Technical Committee. The establishment of the International Taekwon-Do Federation was the first time in Korean history that an international organization was created with headquarters in Korea and with a Korean serving as President.

The charter countries of the International Taekwon-Do Federation were Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, West Germany, the United States of America, Turkey, Italy, and Egypt. The organization grew very rapidly to thirty member countries in just two years.

General Choi; Vietnam was the first foreign country where Taekwon-Do was taught on such large scale. As I had previously mentioned, President Go Din Diem was greatly impressed with our Taekwon-Do exhibition in 1959 and requested instructors to teach the Vietnamese military. The first group of Taekwon-Do instructors was led by Major Nam, Tae Hee and arrived in Vietnam in 1962. These instructors taught Taekwon-Do to the Vietnamese military and citizenry, and to Korean and other foreign soldiers stationed in Vietnam.

As the war escalated, the number of instructors sent to Vietnum grew. By 1973, 647 Taekwon-Do instructors had been sent to Vietnam. With them they took the advances in techniques and new Tul that had been developed. The strength of Taekwon-Do training in Korean soldiers had a psychological affect on the Viet Cong. Through Taekwon-Do training, Korean soldiers had developed excellent physical conditioning, a strong mentality and superior combat techniques. The leaders of the Viet Cong advised their troops to retreat, rather than fight, if they came into contact with Korean soldiers.

Ironically, Taekwon-Do experienced great growth because of the war. Many foreign soldiers who learned Taekwon-Do in Vietnam, later invited their instructors to visit them native country. Through Vietnam, many instructors gained the opportunity to teach Taekwon-Do throughout the world.