Ro, byung jik The Founder of song moo kwan & Father of Modern Taekwondo
** Please note that this is truly just a brief resume. We are looking for more history (stories, honors, etc) from everyone who had trained with Founder Ro! Please forward information to wsmku@wsmkf.org **
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A Brief History7/1919: Born July 3, 1919, 547 Ja nam-dong, Gaeseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, Korea3/1936: Moved to University of Japan to study12/1936: Entered Shotokan Karate school under SGM Gichin Funakoshi (Father of modern Karate)11/1943: Promoted as 4th dan black belt (One of the highest rank in Karate at that time in Japan)3/20/1944: Returned to Korea, Opened first Gongsoodo/Taekwondo school in Korea/the world in GaeSeong city, GyeongGi province. Songmookwan 2nd president - Young Sup Lee, 3rd President -Won Sik Kang (Former Kukkiwon president)8/15/1945: Korean Independence from Japanese occupation(36yrs.) - 2nd World War Ends (Japanese surrendered unconditionally)11/1946-1/1949: Head instructor- Kaesong Police station and Police academy6/25/1950-1953: Korean War1953: Founded 1st. Korean Gongsoodo/Taekwondo Association in Busan during Korean War.*Served as Chairman of the Board and Chairman of the Rank Promotion Committee9/1955-8/1963: Founded/Head instructor for Seoul National Univ. TKD Club (Boum Ho Chung - President)9/1957-5/1961: Founded/Head instructor for DanKuk Univ. TKD Club (Choong Sik Chang - President)9/1962-12/1969: Chairman of Rank Promotion Committee of the Korea Taekwondo Association (KTA)1966: President, Korea Taekwondo Association (current KTA) / Head delegate for Korea TKD team for competition in Japan / Established 1st. Presidential Flag (Chung Hee Park) Championships.5/1967: Official Visit to Vietnam war, Korean Military invited by General Commander Myung Shin Chae with General Hong Hee Choi (Ambassador for Malaysia)9/2014: Received Korean Presidential Medal for his achievement in development of modern Taekwondo from 1944.09/09/2015 - Returned to Mother Nature in peace at age 96 in Minneapolis, MN at his home.