Late taekwondo grasp Rhee Jhoon-goo / Korea Instances file
The Abroad Koreans Company mentioned Thursday that late taekwondo grasp Rhee Jhoon-goo has been named abroad Korean of the month in recognition of his function in globalizing taekwondo and advancing Korea-U.S. sports activities diplomacy.
Rhee, broadly thought to be the one who first established taekwondo within the U.S., helped elevate the martial artwork past self-defense right into a software for cultural trade, diplomacy and worldwide sports activities engagement.
Born in 1932 in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, Rhee was first launched to taekwondo at age 16 by the Chung Do Kwan, one in all Korea’s oldest martial arts colleges. Whereas learning civil engineering at Texas State College in 1957, he based a taekwondo membership and started educating U.S. college students.
He established greater than 60 taekwondo studios throughout the nation, serving to rework the self-discipline into a well-liked mainstream sport within the U.S.
He additionally performed a key function in increasing taekwondo within the former Soviet Union, the place martial arts have been unlawful on the time. Rhee traveled there to influence senior officers to legalize the follow, organizing seminars and serving to to put the groundwork for taekwondo’s institutional recognition and unfold throughout the area.
Rhee additionally taught taekwondo to international figures together with Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali, serving to elevate the game’s worldwide standing. At Lee’s advice, Rhee later appeared in a Hong Kong movie and served as a coach to Ali, serving to to rearrange the boxer’s go to to Korea and contributing to sports-based worldwide trade.
In 2000, he was named the one Korean American amongst 203 of essentially the most profitable and well-known immigrants in U.S. historical past. In recognition of his achievements, Washington, D.C., designated June 28 as “Jhoon Rhee Day” in 2003. He was additionally awarded Korea’s Order of Civil Advantage in 2009.
“Lee devoted his life to taekwondo, introducing its values to the U.S. and past as a pioneer of the game and an early determine within the Korean wave,” mentioned Abroad Koreans Company Commissioner Kim Kyung-hyup. “By naming him as abroad Korean of the month, we hope his ardour and dedication will probably be extra well known and remembered by future generations.”
Since March final yr, the company has chosen and introduced an abroad Korean of the month to honor ethnic Koreans who’ve contributed to Korea’s growth or enhanced the standing of Korean communities of their international locations of residence.
