"When I visited Taipei a year later, Lt. Colonel Hong told me, "Now Korea has become the nation of teachers and China has become the nation of students." Taekwon-Do changed the relationship from older-younger brother to student and teacher."

General Choi; General Park Chung Hee's power in Korea was solidified after he was elected for his second term as President of Korea. The political climate in Korea led me to believe that if I stayed and did not support his politics, I would either be placed under house arrest or thrown into jail. I had seen what he did to his political opponents. Under those circumstances, I would not have the freedom to promote Taekwon-Do or run the International Taekwon-Do Fedetation. And Taekwon-Do was my life.

After the election, President Park sent Kim, Un Yong, the Deputy Director of the Presidential Protective Force, to take over the Korea Taekwon-Do Association. Shortly thereafter, the Korea Taekwon-Do Association began to interfere in the affairs of the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

In the August of 1971, I presided over a meeting of the Standing Committee of the International Taekwon-Do Federation. In this meeting I said, "My dear members, the International Taekwon-Do Federation's President is a Korean, but this does not mean that the ITF should be controlled or directed by the Korean government. It is an international organization that can let no country influence our decisions through under pressure." Afterwards, I began to make plans to leave Korea in secret.

General Choi; Yes. First, Canada can be considered to be a Western Bloc Country, but she maintains a neutral position in international affairs. Through Canada, I felt that I would be able to freely travel to Western and Eastern Bloc and Third World nations to spread the art of Taekwon-Do.

Second, geographically, Canada is centrally located between Europe and South America, so it is easy to travel to these countries.

The third reason is that my dear student, Park, Jong Soo had already established a strong Taekwon-Do foundation in Canada and was operating a very successful school. This made it easier to move the Headquarters of The International Taekwon-Do Federation in Canada.

Finally, I knew that Olympic Games were to be held in Montreal, Canada, in 1976. With a base in Canada, I felt it would be a good opportunity to promote Taekwon-Do as an Olympic event.

General Choi; President Park sent many prominent members of the National Assembly to try to persuade me to return to Korea. They told me that the President had promised me a cabinet post, such as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs or an ambassadorships to the country of my choosing.

After I rebuffed these initial attempts, he sent many close friends to try to persuade me to return. when he failed, the President kidnapped my son and daughter and threatened their lives if I did not return. My response to them was, "I choose Taekwon-Do over my son."

President Park, knowing of my character and determination, ordered Kim, Un Yong to established the World TaekwonDo Federation to fight against the International Taekwon-Do Federation.

General Choi; No one can know how lonely the life is of exiled man. I don't have money or the type of friends who I can laugh and joke with. But I never regret my decision to leave Korea because I have had the opportunity to spread Taekwon-Do throughout the world. And I taught Taekwon-Do without regard to race, religion, nationality, or ideology. In this respect, I am happiest man in the world, and am proud to have left my footprint in the world.

Spreading Taekwon-Do throughout the world is a very challenging job. I travel constantly giving seminars, leading demonstrations and presiding over championships. And I have done this despite the threats on my life from Korean Central Intelligence Officers and Korean Diplomatic Personnel.

Agents of the Korean government have told airport officials that I was the head of terrorist organization which was trying to kill the Korean President, and should be denied entry into the country. They pressured owners of gymnasiums into denying us facilities for seminars in public parks.

They have sent some of my old students to try to kidnap me on many occasions. And there have been attempts on my life by armed assassins. KCIA officers would threaten the parents of ITF instructors teaching overseas, if the instructors continued to associate with me. These officers also told the expatriate ITF instructors that their passports would not be renewed if they continued to associate with me. So, gradually over time, most of my overseas instructors left me.

The pressure I received from the Korean government made me stronger than ever and I put all of my energy into developing new Taekwon-Do techniques. I teach the same system of Taekwon-Do throughout the world.

General Choi; Yes, in September of 1999, the 11th Championship will be held in Argentina. By 1969, the international Taekwon-Do Federation had thirty member countries. I had planned for the first world championship to be held in Korea, but it never materialized.

By the time I arrived in Canada, I found that I had more freedom to plan and organize a championship. The first one was held in Canada, followed by championships held in the United States, Argentina, Scotland, Greece, Hungary, Canada again, North Korea, Malaysia, Russia, and Argentina again this year.

We have sparring, pattern and breaking competitions in the World Championships.

General Choi; People need to understand the difference between anti-government and anti-dictator. I fought against the dictator Park, Chung Hee better than anyone else. I did not believe that Park was qualified to be president and I never thought park was a legitimate president.

He graduated from the Japanese Military Academy and fought against the Korean Revolutionary Army during the occupation. After the liberation of Korea from Japan, he joined Korean Army and then staged an insurrection against Korean government. During his court martial, I was one of the judges who sentences him to death.

I participated in the coup d'etat with him because the movement was led by General Chang, Do Young, the commander in chief of the Army. But park had merely used the General's name and deceived many of the generals who participated in the coup d'etat. General Chang and I were among the judges who had earlier participated in Park's court martial. Faced with opposition to his presidential candidacy from many generals including myself, Park forced us to retire from the Army and sent General Chang into exile in the United States.

After Park became president, he changed the Korean Constitution so many times, he virtually became "President for Life". And using the KCIA, he strictly controlled the freedoms of the Korean people.

Eventually the political climate forced me into exile in Canada. In Canada, I tried to inform the world of what was happening in Korea. And through the media, I urged the Korean military to overthrow the dictator Park and restore democracy in Korea.
Park's dictatorship lasted for 18 years from 1961 to 1979. But what happened? Park lost his life by trusting his KCIA director, General Kim, Jae Kyu.
The death of Park did not end the totalitarian government. General Chun, Doo Hwan and General Ko, Tae Woo took power and continued the military government until the beginning of 1990. Under these conditions, I continued to fight against dictatorship, not against Korean people.

General Choi; One of the reasons I went into exile in Canada was to spread Taekwon-Do throughout the world without regard to ideology, race, religion, or nationality. In Canada, I felt that it would be wise to teach Taekwon-Do in North Korea and trained the instructors who would do the job. Through North Korea, I felt that Taekwon-Do could be spread to other Communist and Third World countries.

In Capitalist countries, I saw many unqualified Taekwon-Do instructors open schools just to make money. I made up my mind to produce Taekwon-Do instructors in North Korea who were not contaminated by Western commercialism. In this way, I felt the true Taekwon-Do philosophy and techniques could be developed. And I thought that this movement would stimulate and motivate instructors in the free world.

Most of the Taekwon-Do instructors trained by me and teaching overseas began to leave me when the World Taekwondo Federation was created. By 1980,there were only ten Korean instructors who were still with me. When my devoted students left me, I felt pain in my heart. But these incidents gave me the opportunity to develop new techniques and look for new sources of instructors.

IN 1982, I was invited to bring a Taekwon-Do Demonstration Team to North Korea by Mr. Kim, Yoo soon, the Chairman of the Sports Union of Demoncratic People's Republic of Korea. The Vice Prime Minister Chung,Joon Ki and many other high ranking government officials met the fifteen member demonstration team at Pyongyang Airport.

Our two week tour took us through many cities and the demonstrations were a great success. So successful, in fact, that before we departed, Minister Chung told me, "We have decided to teach Taekwon-Do in our country, so please send us Taekwon-Do instructors."

After my return from Pyongyang, I trained Master Park, Jung Tae for six months in the basement of my home and eliminated the habits of Karate movements.

Master Park went to North Korea and began teaching Taekwo-Do in February of 1982. He received a salary of $200000 a month and taught for seven months. In September of 1982, I returned to North Korea conducted a two day seminar where I taught the finer details of the Tul and techniques.

Fourty−four students were tested. Nineteen students passed the fourth degree black belt test and the rest passed the third degree black belt test. After the test, Master Rhee, Ki Ha was very happy and asked me how they learned so many Tul and techniques in such a short period of time? This was a miracle of Taekwon-Do. I was very excited myself and told Master Rhee and Master Park, "Now I have enough Taekwon-Do instructors to spread Taekwon-Do throughout the world!"

With the newly promoted instructors, we gave demonstrations in Pyoungyang, Nam Pho and Chung Jin City. They were received with great enthusiasm. I praised Master Park for his excellent teaching in North Korea and promoted him to eighth dan black belt. ("Dan"! It's Japanese! )

Today in North Korea, Taekwon-Do training occurs in elementary school gyms to college gyms. The level of Taekwon-Do training in North Korea is among the best in the world. And many instructors from North Korea have traveled overseas to teach Taekwon-Do.

General Choi; As you know, Korea and China are very close to each other geographically. China, as a big country, treated Korea as an older brother would his younger brother. This mentality was reversed by Taekwon-Do. The government of the Republic of China invited the Korean Taekwon-Do Demonstration Team to perform in Taipei in 1959 after a three week tour of Vietnam.

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

In 1967, during a state visit to the Republic of China, Prime Minister Jung, Il Kwaon was asked by President Chiang, Kai Sek to send Taekwon-Do instructors to teach the Chinese military. I selected five prominent Taekwon-Do instructors and sent them to China under the leadership of Lt. Colonel Hong, Sung In. When I visited Taipei a year later, Lt. Colonel Hong told me, "Now Korea has become the nation of teachers and China has become the nation of students." Taekwon-Do changed the relationship from older-younger brother to student and teacher.

Introducing Taekwon-Do to The People's Republic of China was no easy task. The mainland Chinese believed that all Asian martial arts originated in China. They did wish to learn martial arts from other countries. By 1982, I had amassed a large number of instructors and asked Mr.Deuk Joon, Vice Chairman of The Sport Federation of DPRK, to contact the mainland Chinese on our behalf.

Eventually, both countries agreed to exchange martial arts programs and in 1986, I led a group of 30 North Korean instructors on a goodwill tour of Beijing. We were warmly received by Mr. Suh Jae, the Chairman of the Chinese Wu Shu Federation. Demonstrations were held in Beijing and Sian City. The arena was packed with spectators and its success led China to accept the teaching of Taekwon-Do with silent unofficial approval.

The next year, Professor Choi, Bong Ki of Yun Byun University invited me to teach Taekwon-Do to 70 students. Gradually Taekwon-Do began to be taught throughout China.