Growing up in colonial Korea
Choi Hong Hi was born in 1918 in Hwa Dae, in the northeast of the Korean peninsula. Korea was then under Japanese colonial rule. The Taekwon-Do community celebrates his birthday on 9 November, the date Choi himself chose to observe.
He was often unwell as a child, but was determined and independent. Studying calligraphy with Han Il Dong taught him to concentrate and control each movement of the brush. He would later ask his students to bring the same care and discipline to their training.
His mother worked to support the family and help him continue his education. Choi grew up with respect for elders, a sense of responsibility towards his family and a desire to choose his own path. These qualities stayed with him through military service and his work on Taekwon-Do.
Studying in Japan
In the late 1930s, Choi went to Japan to continue his education. There he studied Shotokan karate. Its stances, strikes, blocks and formal exercises gave him a technical foundation that he would draw on when teaching Korean soldiers after the war.
Choi taught as well as trained. Explaining exercises to others helped him learn how to structure a class, spot mistakes and insist on precise movement. Karate also gave him practical self-defence skills and confidence.
The creation of Taekwon-Do was still years away. War, a return to Korea and collaboration with other masters lay ahead. His experience in Japan became part of the shared technical foundation from which the post-war Korean schools developed.
Imprisonment and liberation
Towards the end of the Second World War, Choi entered service in the Japanese army. He was arrested in connection with a planned uprising and escape by Korean servicemen and sentenced to seven years in prison. Japan’s defeat and Korea’s liberation in 1945 interrupted that sentence: the time he actually spent in confinement was considerably shorter.
Choi continued practising and teaching karate during his imprisonment. After liberation, he became involved in building new military institutions and training soldiers. His later search for a Korean name and a distinct teaching method helped turn that personal experience into a wider movement.