A few words about Choi Hong Hi
The creator of Tae Kwon Do.
(compiled from different sources from the web)
Literally, taekwondo is translated from Korean as "the way of the arms and legs". It was created by general Choi Hong Hi of the korean army, combining elements of japanese karate, the traditional korean style tae-kyon, and a few chinese style elements.
General Choi Hong Hi studied martial arts from early childhood and started creating his own style around the 1940s, and finalized it as a separate style in the 1950s.
General Choi Hong Hi
was born on November 9th, 1918 in the rugged and harsh area of Hwa Dae,
Myong Chun District in what is now D.P.R of Korea. In his youth, he was 
frail and quite sickly, a constant source of worry for his parents.
Even at an early age, however, the future general showed a strong and
independent spirit. At the age of twelve he was expelled from school for
agitating against the Japanese authorities who were in control of Korea.
This was the beginning of what would be a long association with the Kwang
Ju Students’ Independence Movement.
After his expulsion, young
Choi’s father sent him to study calligraphy under one of the most famous
teachers in Korea, Mr. Han II Dong. Han, in addition to his skills as a
calligrapher, was also a master of Taek Kyon, the ancient Korean art of
foot fighting. The teacher, concerned over the frail condition of his new
student, began teaching him the rigorous exercises of Taek Kyon to help
build up his body.
After several years of training this art and combining it with the karate exercises he studied together with a friend, he later came to refine and regroup the exercises, forming his own, definit martial arts, combatant system.
Did you know that Tae Kwon Do is the only martial art that is an olympic sport ? That was possible thanks to the work of one man- general Choi Hong Hi.
A great martial artist, a great man, a visionary, every martial arts practitioner must recognise the merit this one man had on the life and story of modern, present-day martial arts.