합기도 역사 - Dakin Burdick, 2001

[합기사랑]

The History of Hapkido



copyright: Dakin Burdick, 2001



NOTES: This is a work in continuous progress. Because I plan to publish it at some future date, I have stripped the footnotes from the work for publication on the web. I welcome any suggestions and/or corrections you may have. Please send them to me at burdickd@indiana.edu. Because this page will continue to change and grow, I would prefer webmasters to use a link that points to this site rather than simply taking the material and putting it on their own page. If you point people towards this page, they will be able to get the latest copy. Thanks!



Hapkido (way of coordinated energy) is a Korean martial art derived from Japanese Daito-ryu aikijujutsu. Hapkido typically includes strikes, kicks, jointlocks, throws, falling, and weapons work, and is aimed at developing realistic fighting skills. The martial arts of hwarangdo and kuksul are at least partially derived from hapkido, and share many of the same characteristics. The story that hapkido was descended from Wadoryu karate seems to have been pure fantasy. The primary link between hapkido and Japanese jujutsu was Yong-Sul Choi, whose history is problematic in many ways. Nevertheless, hapkido and Daito-ryu share the same general body of techniques and are obviously related in some way. Even though there are concerns that Choi’s story is false, it still serves to define the relationship between the two arts.

Yong-Sul Choi (1904-1986) claimed to have trained for many years in Daito-ryu aikijutsu under Sokaku Minamoto Takeda (1860-1943). According to an interview give in June of 1982 and translated by Chinil Chang, Choi was born in the village of Yong-dong in the Ch’ungch’eong province of Korea. When he was about eight years old he met a Japanese businessman named Morimoto. Morimoto was a candy store owner. He and his wife had no sons so they took Choi back to Japan. Bok-Sup Suh indicates that they did so because Choi “was cute and his own family could not afford him.” Choi’s own interview describes the incident as an abduction. He was taken back to Japan, but protested and cried so much that he was abandoned in the town of Moji soon after they arrived in Japan. Choi traveled alone to Osaka, where he was picked up by the police and sent to a Buddhist temple in Kyoto where Kintaro Watanabe (aka. Wadanabi) cared for him. Choi stayed at the temple for two years and then, when Watanabe asked him “what direction I wanted my life to take,” Choi pointed at the murals on the wall depicting martial arts scenes. As it happened, Watanabe was a “close friend” of Sokaku Takeda, and arranged an introduction, after which Takeda decided to adopt him, giving him the name of Asao Yoshida. According to Andre Carbonell,

“Sogaku Takeda era una persona muy orgullosa y provenía de familia de Samurai, por lo que nunca hubiese aceptado a un ‘esclavo coreano’ como alumno. Por eso Choi Yong Sul fue admitido bajo un nombre japones aunque le era prohibido hablar coreano y comportarse como un coreano.”

This translates as:

“Sogaku Takeda was a very proud person and came from a samurai family, who would never have accepted a ‘Korean slave’ as a student. Because of this, Choi Yong Sul had him admitted under a Japanese name although he had prohibited him [Choi] from speaking Korean and behaving as a Korean.”

According to Ki-Tae Chung, Choi’s initial training was not unusual:

“He started like everyone else did. He had to clean the school, learn to sit properly and to watch. No lessons. For six months Choi, Yong Sul cleaned, sat and watched. It was not like it is now, where you pay and then you take lessons. After six months Choi, Yong Sul spent living in the dojang and doing everything for his teacher, his teacher finally agreed that it is time for this young man, he wants to learn, now I will teach him.”

For the next thirty years, Choi lived at Takeda’s home and dojo “on Shin Su Mountain in the area of Akeda.” Choi was Takeda’s “constant student” and under his personal direction,” as well as serving as “assistant in all of his instruction.” For twenty years of his training, Choi claimed that, “I was secluded in his mountain home.” Choi also claimed that:

“I was my teachers’s assistant in all of his instruction. While in Tokyo, we also taught high-ranking government officials within the palace circle. Also, we traveled to various parts of Japan and taught select groups of people.”

Choi eventually returned to Korea, probably in 1945 after the end of the Second World War. Choi arrived at Pusan City and then took a train for his hometown of Yong-dong. He found no one waiting for him, so he boarded the train again, this time for Taegu city. At the Younson train station, his traveling bag was stolen, along with all his money and his menkyo-kaiden certificate proving his rank in Daito-ryu aikijujutsu. Further, Carbonell relates that,

“El hecho de ser coreano, impidió al maestro Choi tener su nombre en el libro de oro del Daito Ryu. El mismísmo maestro Tokimune Takeda (hijo de Sogaku Takeda) dice no conocer a Choi Yong Sul y apoya el hecho de que sólo japoneses han sido alumnos de su padre.”

This translates as:

“Because he was Korean, he [Takeda] prevented master Choi from having his name in the ‘golden book’ of Daito-ryu. Master Tokimune Takeda himself (son of Sogaku Takeda) says that he did not know Choi Yong Sul and in fact that only Japanese have been pupils of his father.”

Glenn Uesugi adds to this:

“Some years ago, maybe ten years ago now, I began working with Mr. Stanley Pranin, editor of Aiki News Magazine.... Mr. Pranin is a 5th Dan in Aikido and also has excess to all of Takeda Sensei’s records. he could not find a single entry regarding Choi Yong Sool, although Mr. Pranin did locate an entry regarding a seminar Takeda Sensei taught to a group of Koreans in Japan.”

The lack of evidence of Choi’s training in the records of Daito-ryu aikijujutsu, combined with his own lack of documentation, raises a veil over Choi’s years in Japan.

Takeda’s most famous student, for whom there is abundant documentation, was Morihei Ueshiba. Ueshiba founded aikido on the basis of his instruction in Daito-ryu aikijujutsu. If Choi trained under Takeda as he described, then Ueshiba would have been his junior. Choi describes Ueshiba’s encounter with Takeda:

“Once in Hokkaido approximately 30 brigands attacked Master Takeda. He, with his superb abilities dispatched this mass attack with great style. By chance, Ueshiba, Morihei witnessed this incident and was put in awe of Takeda, Sokaku and his martial art. He soon after petitioned my teacher in regard to his becoming my teacher’s student.”

Takeda turned Ueshiba down “because of personal reasons” so Ueshiba appealed to Takeda through Yoshida and was accepted. Choi also remembers that Takeda led an exhibition tour to Hawaii around 1932. Ueshiba was not part of the exhibition team but Takeda took Choi, Jintaro “Abida,” and two others whose names Choi could not recall. Choi also remembered:

“World War II changed things in many ways. The most significant changes happened toward the end of the war. Japan was losing the war and in a last desperation effort the government instituted a special military draft that called up most of the prominent martial artists of the time. These highly trained people were conscripted into special guerrilla-type units that were dispersed throughout the war zone. All of the inner circle of Daito-ryu Aikijutsu were drafted except Master Takeda and myself. All were killed in the final fighting of the war.

I was going to be drafted but Takeda, Sokaku intervened. Through his status and influence, he had me hospitalized for minor surgery. This stopped the process of my conscription and prevented me from being drafted. He prevented me from being put into the war because he felt that if I was killed Daito-ryu Aikijutsu would be lost in its completed form upon his death.”

Choi also claims that Takeda committed harakiri in 1945:

“Shortly after Japan’s surrender to the United States there was a gathering in Otara, Hokkaido, to witness Takeda, Sokaku’s suicide. These people were present; Takeda, Kushiro (eldest son of Takeda, Sokaku), Asao, Yoshida (myself), and some of Master Takeda’s preferred students. Before the ritual began, Master Takeda ordered me to be his second and to take off his head with my sword when he fell. He carefully prepared his ritual table and began. First, he made a brief formal apology to his ancestors and then he killed himself. When it came time for me to sever his head, I could not do it. This man was virtually my father, and I just could not bring myself to do this to his body. Some protest was made because I could not carry out this duty. Takeda, Sokaku’s body was buried by his eldest son.

He said goodbye to me before the ritual. He spoke of my long time desire to return to Korea and bid me to do so promptly after his death. He was concerned that because of my position in his household and because of my Korean heritage, that I would be assassinated if I remained in Japan after his death. Had I remained after his death and tried to succeed him, it would have been dangerous.”

The story Choi told is full of difficulties for historians of hapkido. For one thing, Choi claims that Takeda committed harakiri in 1945, but both the aikido and Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu Takumakai lineages give his death date as 1943. On the other hand, Takeda had a reputation for being suspicious of assassination. Moreover, if Choi was unable to cut off Takeda’s head when chosen as a second, there certainly would have been more than a “protest” regarding his failure. To be chosen as the second in seppuku is a great honor and a position of great trust. Seppuku involves cutting one’s own belly open and it is the second’s job is to cut off his head and give the performer a quick and dignified end. Instead, Choi apparently either betrayed the samurai code of honor or he simply left Takeda without a second, in which case his master’s seppuku would have been a very painful death indeed.

Other Koreans also trained in Daito-ryu aikijujutsu. In-Mok Chang (1912-) also studied in that style, returning to Taegu City in 1945. Chang taught hapkido for a time, but since his primary work was as a doctor of oriental medicine and massage, he did not produce many students. Dr. Mok does, however, still have his scroll listing his training record in Daito-ryu.

Despite the loss of his certificate, Yong-Sul Choi began to seek a position teaching the martial arts upon his return to Korea. His first attempt was a failure. He visited a keomdo dojang where they taught both keomdo and yudo, and he demonstrated a few techniques. Do-Hwan Shin, the yudo instructor there, was “very impressed” with Choi’s techniques. Choi claimed that “he learned a special kind of martial art in Japan.” Shin asked about lessons but Choi “asked for too much money” and did not recruit any students.

On Feb. 21, 1948, Yong-Sul Choi met Bok-Sup Suh (b. c1905-6), his first Korean student. Suh was chairman of a brewery making mak ju (Korean wine). Choi was supporting his family by selling cheap rice cakes on the street corners, and had come to the brewery to get some of the grain left over from the brewing. When he discovered that the procedure for this had changed, a fight ensued. Suh came downstairs to stop the fight and noticed that Choi “carried some extraordinary posture that I had not seen before. And I noticed that it seemed like some kind of martial art.” Suh was already a 1st dan black belt in yudo, having studied under Yong-Ho Choi. Suh brought Yong-Sul Choi upstairs to his office, where he had a room full of Japanese yudo mats (tatami in Japanese). Choi demonstrated a few techniques and showed Suh the business card for his instructor, “Takada Sokatu of Daito Ryu.” Suh became his student and took his first lesson the next day. In return, Suh gave Choi money to help him out, paid him in food, and allowed Choi to use Suh’s mat rom for his tojang. Among one of Choi’s first students was Han-Jae Ji (1936-), who began studying with Choi in 1949.

Suh believes that he was Choi’s first student in Korea. Suh recalls that, “Choi, Yong Sool said that first of all he couldn't afford to teach anybody, he was to [sic] busy making a living. And also nobody was interested to pay for lessons in the amount he asked.” Suh enjoyed daily lessons with Choi even during the Korean War and afterwards, when Choi became a bodyguard to Suh’s father.



Hapkido Kwans


Kwan name Kwan name

(standard) McCune-Reischauer Founder Location Year

An Moo Kwan Anmukwan Han-Jae Ji Taegu City 1956

Sung Moo Kwan Seongmukwan Han-Jae Ji Seoul 1957

Shin Moo Kwan Shinmukwan Mu-Hyun Kim Seoul 1961

Moo Sool Kwan Musulkwan Kwang-Wha Won Seoul 1960s

Yun Moo Kwan Yeonmukwan Kwang-Sik Myung Seoul c1967

Hwa Rang Kwan Hwarangkwan Joo-Bang Lee Seoul 1962





On Feb. 12, 1951, Choi and Suh opened the Taehan Yukweonsul Hapki Dojang (Korean Soft-fist-art Coordinated-energy school). Choi chose the name of yukweonsul for his art because he thought that yusul (jujutsu) was too often confused with yudo (judo). Suh used his family’s reputation to build Choi’s following, and acted as Choi’s patron. Suh also designed the first symbol for hapkido, two arrowheads arranged like the eom-yang (yin-yang) symbol. The arrowheads represented “two hands with the thumb and index fingers extended” because “If you try to open my finger with one finger, it’s hard. No matter what you do, by using one finger it is hard. If you reverse the energy, the resistance, and use your opponent’s power, you combine the ki.”

In 1954, Dong-Jin Suh (Suh’s father) ran for the National Assembly. One week before the election, Suh had a fight with Se-Daek Chun, the head of the ruling party’s committee in Kyeongsang province and brother-in-law of one of the other candidates. Chun was a big man and his background was “that of a hoodlum.” Chun tried to punch Suh, so Suh knocked him to the ground with a side kick. Chun later asked for reconciliation but at a meeting with fifteen men from each side, Chun’s brother tried to punch Bok-Sup Suh. Suh dodged the attack, and the man began to try for a yudo hold. Suh successfully used a hapki technique against each grip, so the man responded with “the traditional Korean fighting technique which was head butting.” Suh avoided the attack and then deeply scraped the man’s forehead with his teeth. The men left him alone after that, but Chun’s mother grabbed Suh by the hair so he twisted her wrist until she let go. Chun and Suh made peace soon after, and a number of “hoodlums” began to come to Suh for training. Suh and Choi’s first demonstration of Yukweonsul was at Taegu University, where they challenged other martial artists to compete. After his father won the election, he hired Choi as one of his bodyguards.

Kwang-Wha Won was the personal secretary and bodyguard for Congressman Dong-Jin Suh from 1954 to1958. Won learned yukweonsul from Bok-Sup Suh. Won moved to San Sun Kyo, Seoul, and opened his own school (Musulkwan) after teaching at Mu-Wung Kim’s tojang in 1962. Notable students were Lee-Hyun Park (a professor at Southeast Missouri State University), He-young Kimm, Hyung-dae Won (Won’s son and head of the Musulkwan after his father’s death). Musulkwan training specialized in short stick, knife defense, powerful and direct armlocks, defense against right hand attacks, big circle throws.

Around 1958, both Choi and Suh opened their own schools in Taegu City. Yong-Sul Choi had been teaching privately on straw mats in the courtyard of his home since 1953. Among his pupils were Han-Jae Ji (then a freshman at Taegu City Technical High School) and Mu-Hyun Kim (aka. Mu-Wung Kim, Moo-Woong Kim, Moo-Moong Kim). Around 1958, Choi started his own tojang in an old dancing hall. Suh sold his brewery and opened a hapkido school at Chung-ang-dong, hiring Mu-Hyun Kim (then 21 years old) as his head instructor. Kim later moved to Seoul, where “he went to some temple to develop his kicking techniques which originally Hap Ki Do never had much of.” According to Kimm, Mu-Hyun Kim was known as a kicking specialist, and it was during his eight month stay in Seoul at Ji’s school that Hapkido’s kicks were finalized. “Ji’s school emphasized that only the bottom of the foot touches the ground when executing a low spinning kick. Whereas, Kim’s school taught that both the hand and knee touched the ground when this kick was done.” Suh likewise left Taegu City and moved to Seoul, where he worked as a professor at a university.

Ki-Tae Chung (1939-) was born in Chin-sang-dong in Taegu City. He earned his 1st dan in t’aegweondo in 1955. The following year, Chung was an assistant instructor at a t’aegweondo school with about fifteen to eighteen students when Moon-Jung Kang visited the school to teach yusul. Chung, then seventeen years old, was fascinated by the new techniques. Kang spoke admiringly of an instructor in Taegu. Chung learned the location of the instructor by buying lunch. Then he and Kang went to the school. He remembers:

“I was with Kang, Moon Jung together we approached the club door. I heard noise inside and I began trying to see what was happening inside because the door had a little opening. Then I heard a scream, ‘AHHH’ with pain. This made me very nervous because of the reputation of one finger touch and finish. We were trying to watch closer, then someone big in there screamed again, ‘AHHHH’ even more louder! We quickly ran out of the building. …. I ran away because I was very nervous. Then we went back a second time I really wanted to watch. I saw one guy grab the master’s tobok top and the master came around on this side (CKT demonstrates brings his elbow over the arm twisting hand) and the person goes to the ground sits down making a loud noise then can’t stand up. I was nervous and ran away again. I went home and I kept dreaming about how I could learn the one finger, touch, and finish and was very interested in it.”

Eventually Chung worked up the courage to sign up for lessons with Yong-Sul Choi, the instructor at the school. Choi taught only one person at a time, and charged a lot for each lesson. “While I was there I heard Suh Bok Sup’s name,” recalled Chung but, “I never saw him in Daegu Hap Ki Do Dojang.” Chung remembers:

“He taught with only one student inside curtain so no one else could see, then the second person would get ready and they would come in. Now remember I learned t’aegweondo and yudo before coming to this yawara club. One month to learn hapkido; the fee was 5 or 10 times higher that other arts. One time use on somebody, then for a couple months, they cannot use their arm. I am nervous then. At Choi Yong Sul’s tojang, he had small ball hanging from the ceiling about head height and one person would be kicking the ball. They did many other kicks but for now just front kick, snap like ax kick, first time I had seen this kick because other kicking art only had roundhouse, and side kick mostly. …. The person kicking was about twenty-three or twenty-four years old. Very unusual kicks I was seeing. Very interesting, one grab and pain, pressure point here, pressure point there, cannot use hand. Not like t’aegweondo kicking and punching. One problem there; the assistant instructor, Master, one time do techniques and a couple of weeks you cannot work. Too much pain. The Master taught me, and I taught my students and test the techniques. Then at this point I started having my students learn both hapkido and t’aegweondo and they were learning grabbing techniques from the wrist, the side, the shoulder, from behind and chest attacks.”

Bob Duggan confirm‎s that Choi had a reputation as a mean instructor. “He would whip his students if they didn’t do things exactly as he said,” wrote Duggan, who also mentions that Han-Jae Ji “still bears the whip scars on his back.”

Jung-Yun Kim began yusul under Choi in 1958 while attending Yongnam University. He became Choi’s righthand man in 1963, and was Secretary General as well as head instructor of the Kido Hoe. In 1972, he founded his own art, “Han Pul”, based at the “Moo Lim Won” headquarters. He taught his art through correspondence courses.

Another student of Yong-Sul Choi was Jong-Bae Rim (1937-). One of Rim’s cousins was an instructor for Choi, and recommended the martial art to help Rim with his weight problem. Rim began studying with Choi in 1964, at which time Choi had a morning class, an evening class, and special classes throughout the day. Rim attended the morning class, which began at 5:30 a.m. and had twenty to thirty students. Rim earned his 1st dan in about three years. By the time he immigrated to the U.S. in 1973, he was a 6th dan and Choi’s chief instructor. Rim’s first student in the U.S. was Joe Sheya, who earned his 1st dan in about four years.



Seoul:



In 1956, the father of He-Young Kimm (Heui-Yeong Kim) was beaten up by the Kwon brothers after a card game dispute. As the eldest son, it was considered Kimm’s responsibility to exact revenge. Ownership of weapons was not allowed in Korea, so Kimm (then known as Yeong-Sok Kim) initially thought of joining the police academy and thus getting a gun, but he was too young and did not in any case have the high school diploma required by the academy. This left martial arts as the only way to obtain revenge. Kimm studied yudo and bisul (“bi sool”) under Kwang-Sub Song at East High School in Seoul. Serino says Kimm started training in 1956, while Kimm states he began training in bisul in 1954. According to Kimm, bisul was also known as hoshinsul (self-defense arts) and emphasized big circular throws and locks, but was incorporated into hapkido in the 1960s. Song emphasized unity of mind and body, and the gentle, flowing nature of yudo. Kimm also studied at the East Gate tojang under Jong-Chun Kim and met Kwan-Sik Min (later the Korean Minister of Education). Kimm also attended Central Yudo School where he trained under Young-Doo Bang, who was also the head instructor at Korean Police Headquarters. Lastly, he trained under Sook-Dong Yu at the Korea Gym where he learned kongsudo and boxing. Both East Gate gym and Korea gym were built from army tents and provided little protection against the changing seasons. Later in the 1950s, he learned the basic forms, P’yeongan forms, and three step sparring of tangsudo from Jong-Sung Lee, a member of the Kuwu Hoe. During High School, Kimm also met Lee-Hyun Park (later Chairman of the Board of Examiners of the American Hapkido Association) and Hyun-Ja Park (his future wife).

Han-Jae Ji trained under Choi from 1953 to 1956. He then moved to his home city in An-dong, where he trained under the son of old man Lee, learning kicking, long staff, and meditation. Ji opened his first school, the Anmukwan (An martial hall), where he taught yukweonsul to Yong-Woo Yu, Se-Lim Oh, and Tae-Man Kwon. In Sept. 1957, Ji relocated to Seoul, staying in a boarding house in Wang Shim Ri. Duk-Kyu Hwang, the son of the boarding house owner, was his first student at his Majang-dong school, which was called the Seongmukwan. Yoon-Sung Lee challenged Ji in his school but passed out after Ji placed him in an elbow lock. Lee was a “former Navy Underwater Demolition Team graduate and known gangster” of the Majang-dong of Wang Shin Ri. After his defeat, Lee sent some of his followers to study under Ji. Most of Ji’s students came from Hanyang University. Ji’s top students included Jong-Soo Kang, Duk-Kyu Hwang, Kwang-Shik Myung, Yong-Jin Kim, Yong-Whan Kim, and Tae-Joon Lee. Ji then rented a boxing room from Bong-Ha Ko, “a well known boxing teacher in Korea,” where he taught Won-Sun Jung, Dong-Koo Lee and others. On July 24, 1958, former Sgt. Song, a distant uncle of Ji, introduced him to retired Korean Marine Capt. Choon-Sam Kim. Ji moved to Joong Boo Shi Jang, where Yong-Sul Choi visited and gave a demonstration. Ji taught there until Apr. 1960, instructing Bong-Soo Han, Seo-Oh Choi, and Jae-Nam Myung.

Kwang-Shik Myung studied hapkido from Ji at the Majang-dong school in 1957 and later from Yong-Sul Choi, whom he afterward considered his true teacher. Myung graduated with a degree in “commerce” from Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul and opened his own school (the Yun Moo Kwan) at San Sun kyo, also in Seoul, after his tour of Vietnam in 1967. In 1974, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. He-Young Kimm translated Myung’s 1971 book into English in 1974. Myung moved to Detroit where he founded the World Hapkido Association, which he later changed to the World Hapkido Federation.

Sea-Oh Choi (aka. Se-Oh Choi) earned a black belt in Chidokwan t’aegweondo before joining Ji’s Seongmukwan school in 1958. Choi and Bong-Soo Han were employed at Hanguk Shil Up Co. (the president was Jong-Chul Hong). They both joined the hapkido school to become personal security guards for Jin-Han Jun who was a Korean Labor Party presidential candidate (but who later withdrew his candidacy). Choi got his black belt and taught at the main Seongmukwan school, Korean Military Academy and the U.S. Army’s 7th Division in Korea. After graduating from Hanyang University in 1964, Sea-Oh Choi enrolled in Woodbury College in Los Angeles to learn interior design. He taught hapkido at the downtown Y.M.C.A. He eventually started his own school on Temple Street, which he called the “Hapki Jujitsu School of Self Defense.” He formed the All American Hapkido Federation, and was President of the Korean Amateur Sports Association (K.A.S.A.) In the U.S. from 1971 to 1973. He considered Yong-Sul Choi to be his teacher.

It should be noted that Kimm’s version of Sea-Oh Choi’s history is different from that given by Choi himself in 1965. In the first Black Belt article on hapkido, Sea-Oh Choi explained that Tatsujutsu Yoshida (Yong-Sul Choi) had moved to Seoul in 1954 and started teaching Daito-ryu yawara in an old garage. According to Sea-Oh Choi, Yoshida’s best students were himself and “Ji Han Chei” (Han-Jae Ji). Sea-Oh Choi described himself as “a Black Belt expert in Korean Tang Soo Do karate” who “had challenged Yoshida and lost.” The three men then combined “Korean kicking and offensive techniques” with the yawara, along with a ”fine motion” (a form of body movement) and named the art hapkido. Sea-Oh Choi’s style emphasized following through on every strike, so that kicks did not snap but rather continued through the target “to develop as much power as possible.” In that 1965 article, Sea-Oh Choi also described tanjeon breathing, stick and club techniques, and pressure point work, and mentioned that there were four hapkido gyms in Korea and one in Germany.

Bong-Soo Han started hapkido at Ji’s school in 1958. He later studied under Yong-Sul Choi, whom he considers his most important teacher. Han’s first school was located at Sam Kang Ji, Seoul. He then moved to Osan Air Force Base where he taught U.S.A.F. Security Police for six years until he moved to Los Angeles in 1968. He taught at Sea-Oh Choi’s school for a time and then opened his own school on Westwood Boulevard near the U.C.L.A. campus. On July 4, 1971, Han gave a hapkido demonstration as part of the Independence Day celebration in downtown Los Angeles. Tom Laughlin saw him and was impressed enough to study under him for eight months. Han was a close friend of Tae-Man Kwon, another student of Ji.

In late 1961, Mu-Hyun Kim opened his own school, the Shinmukwan, in the Jong Myo section. Kim’s father served as the financial manager and Kwang-Wha Won (founder of Musulkwan) helped instruct. Kim’s notable students included Han-Chul Lee (now in South America), Woo-Tak Kim (now in Canada), Il-Woong Huh (was at Sogang University but is now at Myongji University in Seoul, and President of the Korea University Hapkido Association), Joo-Bang Lee (although Lee considered Am-dosa Suh his teacher and attended Kim’s school to enrich his martial arts), Han-Dong Na (now teaching at Suh Dae Mun, Seoul, as Kim’s right hand man), and Dong-Ki Shin (now in San Francisco). In 1969, the Kido Hoe sent Mu-Hyun Kim to the U.S. to teach hapkido. He taught for one year in Los Angeles and then returned to Korea. After Mu-Hyun Kim returned to Korea from the U.S. in 1970, he formed the Hanguk Hapkido Hyeob Hoe, in reaction to Han-Jae Ji’s organization. Kim became a millionaire in the lumber and construction material business, and “is one of the wealthiest Hapkido stylists in Korea.”

After training with Yong-Sul Choi in Taegu City, Ki-Tae Chung entered the army in 1959 and served three years in the 8th Army Division. He was first at Base Oul Jee Ro, located in Seoul, and then later at Hum Chung. While in the army he taught t’aegweondo and a little hapkido. When his service ended in 1962, Chung moved to Jung-am-dong in Seoul, where he began the Jong Am Dong Corporation. He taught six or seven students at his mountainside home, and also taught some students at Kyunghee University. His first black belt was Yong-Sul Kim, a university student. In 1965 or 1966, he opened a school called “Jae Ill Hap Ki Do” (First Hapkido). His first student in Canada was John Tefner, who later became a minister and moved to Los Angeles. Chung recalls an encounter with a local judo instructor:

“When I first came to Canada, my club offered yudo, hapkido and t’aegweondo. Nearby was a Japanese judo school and the Japanese instructor asked to see my yudo. He wanted to see the difference between Korean and Japanese; yudo vs. judo. Well, I had yudo in junior school so when I demonstrated to this Japanese instructor I combined yudo and hapkido.

Right away, I would beat this instructor and he asked me what is this you are using with your yudo techniques that gives me so much pain. I told him I was very fortunate to learn hapkido from the very best, the founder of hapkido, the Great Grandmaster Choi, Yong Sul. He said: ‘I have never seen anything so devastating as this art.’ The instructor said he wanted this kind of knowledge to give to his students, ‘please teach me.’”

When t’aegweondo leader Jung-Soo Park moved to Toronto, Gen. Hong-Hi Choi told Chung that he would have to move to another city, since Choi wanted Toronto for his student Park. Chung met with Choi and reached an agreement. Chung demonstrated various hapkido self-defense techniques to be included in Choi’s new t’aegweondo book, for which Choi declared him “a good Tae Kwon Do man” and told him he could live anywhere he wanted. Chung remained in Toronto. These techniques can seen, as demonstrated by Chung, in Choi’s Taekwon-Do (1972). It is humorous to read the description of the techniques, for it begins, “These techniques are not only the most interesting in Taekwon-Do but also the most advanced.”



Pusan:



Ji-In Pak (aka. In-Seok Pak, Inn-Sheuk Pak, James I. Park) was already teaching in Pusan for Yong-Shul Choi when Ki-Tae Chung started studying hapkido in 1956. Pak’s father was Japanese and his mother was Korean, which bothered Pak a great deal. His mother died at an early age and his father trained him in the martial arts when he was small child, beating him severely if he made a mistake. His father returned to Japan, probably by the end of the Second World War, and Pak (1938-1994) found himself abandoned. He was raised in an orphanage and trained as a Buddhist monk. He met Yong-Shul Choi when he was 13 or 14 years old. Pak’s first instructor was a judo instructor and his first father-in-law owned a brewery. This suggests that perhaps Pak was one of the early students of yusul under Choi, since Yong-Shul Choi’s first student in Korea was Bok-Sup Suh, a judo man who owned a brewery.

When He-Young Kimm entered the Maritime College of the National University of Pusan, he began training under Yong-Jo Yun. Yun emphasized a much harder style than had Song, and thus became the second great influence on Kimm’s art. He continued to study the P’yeongan forms, as well as Ch’eolgi (iron horse) and shipsu (ten hands) forms, this time under a Yunmukwan 3rd dan in kongsudo. He also studied “Ja Min Ryu” hapkido. Kimm also visited the Shinmukwan school in Seoul during trips home, where he met Moo-Ung Kim and his assistant Kwang-Wha Won. Moo-Ung Kim was a classmate of Han-Jae Ji’s under Yong-Shul Choi and had stayed with Ji for eight months prior to opening the school in Seoul. Kim began to study hapkido under Won in 1962. Kimm was also a Marine Corps Cadet who trained the 8th U.S. Army Pusan Area Command. He taught two classes a night, from 6-8 p.m. and then from 8-10 p.m. to the U.S. helicopter pilots and the Military Police Officers. He also visited Tong Do Sa and Bum Uh Sa and learned seon from the monks (Kimm names “Sung Soo Dae Sa). He earned a B.S. in Marine Science and was commisioned as a Lieutenant in the Marines. Dr. Mark Scully, President of Southeast Missouri State University, invited Kimm to come to Missouri and teach hapkido in the Physical Education department, on the recommendation of U.S. Army Colonel Angle Myer. Before he left for the U.S. in 1963, he visited the Kwon home and told them to forget the past. He even offered to help them with their son’s education. He arrived in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in November of 1963. In 1966, he met Jae-Bok Chung at summer school at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Chung was a student of Duk-Sung Son. The next year he studied t’aegweondo under Chang-Hee Choi at the Military Arts Institute owned by Kyung-Sun Shin in Chicago. Lee-Hyun Park joined him at the university in 1968, during which year they organized the American Hapkido Association (Miguk Hapkido Hyeobhoejang) with technical aid from the Korean Musulkwan Association. Kimm earned his M.A. in History in 1969 and moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

On April 19, 1960, students overthrew the anti-Japanese government of Dr. Syngmann Rhee. Japanese goods were then smuggled into the country, and Ji changed his art’s name to kido after learning that aikido and hapkido used the same Chinese characters. On May 16, 1961, Ch’eong-Heui Pak (aka. Chung-Hee Park, 1917-1979) took over the government in a coup and proceeded to normalize trade relations, which made more people aware of the possible confusion between aikido and hapkido. According to Ki-Tae Chung, Yong-Sul Choi did not like the name of Kido. Choi pointed out that kido meant “prayer” to Christians and was therefore “not a very good for name for martial art." In September of 1963, the Korea Kido Association (Taehan Kido Hoe) was chartered by the Ministry of Education, following a draft of “the Purpose and Constitution of the Korea Kido Assocation” by Han-Jae Ji, Jang Kwon, and Yong-Sul Choi. The first chairman was Choi, and the first Secretary General was Jung-Yun Kim. The Hoe supervised and regulated “standards of teaching as well as promotion requirements of Black Belts in Korean martial arts.” The Hoe also “tried to promote martial arts to public school students, police officers, and military officials.” According to Ki-Tae Chung, the Kido Hoe had only one big meeting in Seoul, which was organized by Yong-Sul Choi and Moo-Hoo Kee at the Shinmukwan. Moo-Ee Jung, Master Ga, Moo-Hoo Kee and many other black belts were in attendance.

In 1965, Han-Jae Ji established the Taehan Hapkido Hyeob Hoe (Korea Hapkido Association) with Yong-Sul Choi, In-Hyuk Suh, and Moo-Wung Kim. Ji claims to be the primary mover behind this organization, and states that he did not like Jung-Yun Kim’s domination of the Kido Hoe. Kimm adds that one of Ji’s students began using blank Kido Hoe certificates to increase his own rank beyond that of Ji. Seongmukwan students insisted on calling the art hapkido. “The students did not feel it mattered that a Japanese art had the same name,” explained Kimm, because “the two styles were not related.” Ji was also being urged to organize a new hapkido organization by Jong-Kyu Park (then a 3rd dan in hapkido), the head of the President’s Security Forces, of which Ji was now the Chief Hapkido Instructor.

Ji opened a school in front of Joong Ang Keuk Jang (Central Theater) and Moo-Hyun Kim (then a student of Choi) visited for eight months. In 1962, Ji moved the school to Kwanchul-dong, behind the Hwa Shin department store. Major Dong-Nam Lee managed to get Ji a teaching position at the Military Academy and to instruct the Military Supreme Council. He taught the President’s Security Guard, and moved his school to Suh Dai-mun (West Gate Section). Ji served as a bodyguard for President Cheong-Heui Pak for eighteen years, beginning in 1962. As a result, he was able to train the Presidential secret service, the Korean police, Korean Special Forces, and at the military academies.

Hapkido instructors were also supported by the Dae-Woo (Dae-u) company. Woo-Joong Kim, President of the Dae-Woo company, became President of the Korea Hapkido Association. His company hired many hapkido masters and sent them to the Middle East (where Dae-Woo was doing construction work) to teach the locals. In return, the hapkido people helped solve conflicts between the company and local people and controlled the activity of the North Korean agents.

Jae-Nam Myeong (-1999) formed the Hanguk Hapki Hoe (Korea Hapki Association) in 1969. A student of Ji, he visited the Japanese Aikido Federation headquarters and got an agreement to exchange Hapkido and Aikido techniques. Myung became the President of the World Aikido Federation in Korea. He joined with Kim and Ji’s groups under the Taehan Minguk Hapkido Hyeob Hoe (Republic of Korea Hapkido Association) in 1973. In 1983, he resigned from this group and the next year formed the International Hapkido Federation. In 1988, he founded his own style of Hankido (“Korean ki way”), which he introduced that same year at the first International Hapkido Games in Seoul. According to the Dutch Hapkido Federation (NHF),

“Hankido consists of twelve basic selfdefence techniques (ho shin ki) which are connected to 24 breathing techniques. Twelve for the defender called Hwan Sang Do Bup, and twelve for the attacker called Ho Shin Ba't Ki (also refered to as Chon Ki Bup and Chi Ki Bup).”

Like Kwang-Shik Myung’s hapkido, Hankido is based upon 3 basic principles. For Hankido, these are: “the fast spin theory, the flow of energy and power like water, and the theory of harmony.” After Jae-Nam Myeong’s death in 1999, his son Song-Kwang Myeong became the head of the I.H.F.

The association with the Presidential Bodyguard has greatly encouraged the development of hapkido but it also fragmented hapkido leadership. Each time a ruling clique is replaced, the hapkido association that tied its hopes to the outed clique is also replaced. Ji had great political influence during his stint as President Pak’s bodyguard. He lost favor after an assassination attempt on Pak led to the death of Pak’s wife. On Korean Liberation Day on Aug. 15, 1974, Pres. Pak gave a speech at the National Theater in Seoul. A Korean resident of Japan named Saek-Wang Mun tried to assassinate Pres. Pak but instead shot and killed Young-Soo Youk, the first lady of the Third Republic. Ji and the other Presidential Security Guards all resigned. Ji joined the ruling political party and with changing political conditions, Ji was again recruited to work in the Blue House protection unit. The assassination of Pres. Cheong-Heui Pak himself in 1979 led to a change in government and many hapkido instructors (former members of the Presidential Security Guard) left the country. Han-Jae Ji himself spent a year in prison under President Kyu-Hah Choi. A similar change took place when President D’ae-U No (Tae-Woo Roh) took power in 1988. No’s predecessor, President Du-Hwan Cheon (Doo-Hwan Chun), had many members of the Korean Hapkido Association in his Security Guard. Kyung-Whan Chun, was Cheon’s brother and a graduate of the Yudo College. He worked closely with Se-Lim Oh, the President of the Taehan Hapkido Hyeob Hoe as it was reorganized in late 1984. Chun ran the Sae Ma Eul Woon Dong Doe (Institute of Ideological Training) and got Oh to teach hapkido as part of the program. When Pres. Cheon was replaced by Pres. No, Cheon was charged as a ruthless dictator by the National Assembly and exiled to a remote Buddhist temple. Kyung-Whan Chun was sentenced to prison “for misuse of his power and corruption.” Because of this debacle, the Korean Hapkido Association lost students to other organizations. Many K.H.A. students switched to the Korea Kido Hoe or the I.H.F., although in 1991 the K.H.A. still retained sixty-percent of the Korean hapkido population.

According to Jong-Bae Rim, Yong-Sul Choi visited the U.S. in June of 1982 with the hope of unifying hapkido because he knew “his life was near its end.” Rim and his student, Joe Sheya, attended the meeting in New York at the Korean Restaurant, Yong Bin Kwon. As Rim tells it, the dream of unification failed because “Mr. Choi named a successor who did not share his vision.” According to Mike Wollmershauser, that successor was Chinil Chang.



Chinese Martial Arts in Korea:



Many Chinese immigrated to Korea after the Chinese Revolution of 1949, including at least four teachers of k’ung hu (gongfu in Chinese): Poom-Chang Lim (1910-1982), Kyung-Ban Kang (1912-), Sue-Chon No, and Master Koo. Lim taught orthodox praying mantis style in the Seoul area. Kang taught praying mantis as well and was still teaching in Pusan and Taiwan in 1989. Chon taught the p’algwae (eight trigrams; bagua in Chinese) or “palm strike” method in Inchon. In China, he was called “the gate guard of the rich.” Koo taught six harmony Seorim k’ung hu (Shaolin gongfu), which was also known as changkweon (long fist; changquan in Chinese). Duk-Kang Lee studied under Master Koo and as of 1989 taught in Seoul. The teachers of monkey, crane, and “ying chun” styles “are not considered experts in these styles of kung-fu, because many feel they learned from books or videos.” According to Victor Cheng (c1947-), Chinese martial arts in Korea in the 1950s were very traditional:

“Old teachers closed their doors to anyone non-Chinese. Not Chinese, not get accepted. At the time, they referred to the Chinese system as 18 weapons or 18 techniques. It was only after a couple of students at my school opened their own schools that Koreans were accepted into the kung-fu system.”

Because of the closed nature of the schools, it is probable that gongfu had little impact on the development of Korean karate in the 1950s. In recent times, the Chinese arts have been much more widely distributed. As of 1989, there were about 450 k’ung hu gymnasiums in Korea. Eighty percent of these are Shaolin long fist, eight percent teach praying mantis, five percent teach p’algwae, and the rest are miscellaneous systems. The four k’ung hu associations in Korea are the Taehan K’ung hu Hoe (Korean Gongfu Association; about 100 gyms), the P’algwae Hoe (Eight Trigrams Association; about 30 schools, centered around Inchon), the Korean and Chinese K’ung hu and Musul Association (about 20 schools around Korea), and the Taehan Shipp’algi Hoe (Korean Eighteen Techniques Association; about 20 gyms). As of 1994, Kwang-Sub Kim was the President of the Taehan Shipp’algi Hoe, which was strongest in Seoul and Taegu City. Kim himself began studying shipp’algi at the age of sixteen under Myung-Duk Yoon. Kim’s main school is the Hanguk Muye Weon (Korean Martial Arts Institute) in Sin-Chon district of Seoul. The majority of k’ung hu schools are independent and do not belong to an association. Moon-Tak Hong (1948-) was a student of Poom-Chang Lim in praying mantis and shipp’alki, beginning his studies sometime before 1964. Hong was a member of the Korean K’ong Hu Association and in 1984, he was appointed to the post of vice-president of the World Guoshu Association (based in Taiwan). In 1986, Hong began building contacts with the People’s Republic of China Wushu Association and the Hangju City Martial Arts Association.



Hwarangdo:



There are two Korean arts that are closely related to hapkido, namely hwarangdo and kuksulweon. Both claim to be modern incarnations of ancient Korean martial arts, but are more likely outgrowths of hapkido.

Joo-Bang Lee and Joo-Sang Lee were two brothers, both affiliated with the Korean Hapkido Federation under Han-Jae Ji. Joo-Bang Lee (1934-) was the younger brother, but had begun his study of the martial arts under Suahm Dosa, a Buddhist monk at Sukwang-sa (Sukwang temple) in Northern Korea in March of 1942. Lee was then eight years old, and trained rigorously every summer during school break. In December of 1948, the Lee family followed Suahm Dosa south to Yanmi-am (Yanmi hermitage) on O Dae mountain. Lee continued training with the monk until his early twenties (the late 1950s). Both brothers had very different syllabi of instruction, and Bob Duggan believes that Joo-Sang Lee studied under the hapkido masters in Seoul, while Joo-Bang Lee trained under Suahm Dosa, Mu-Hyun Kim, Han-Jae Ji, and others. Joo-Bang Lee left Mu-Hyun Kim’s school in 1962 after Kim was drafted into the army, and trained in open-handed striking techniques with In-Hyeok Seo in Pusan.

The Lee brothers founded the Hanguk Musul Hoe (Korean Martial Arts Association) in 1962, later shortening the name to Kuksul Hoe (National Arts Association). The members of this organization included Uoo-Tack Kim, Han-Chul Lee, Il-Woong Huh, In-Hyeok Seo, and Moo-Jin Kim, with Han-Chul Lee and In-Hyeok Seo founding the Pusan branch of the association in October of 1963. In 1966, the Kuksul Hoe disbanded due to leadership conflicts. The last attempt to keep hwarangdo, Kuksulweon and hapkido unified was the Unified Korean Martial Arts Exposition on May 27, 1968. The arts represented at the exposition included hwarangdo, Kuksulkwan, Sangmukwan hapkido, Shinmukwan hapkido, bisul, kihapdo, kido, yusul, and yukweonsul. At that time, Yong-Sul Choi awarded Joo-Bang Lee an 8th dan in hapkido. Lee also held a 4th dan in kuksulweon. Lee’s set of three volumes on hwarangdo (recently reprinted) remain among the best comprehensive works on the Korean yusul family of arts.

Bob Duggan and Vincente Montenegro were Joo-Sang Lee’s first students at his hapkido school in Huntington Park, which opened in 1968. Lee was then a 6th dan but returned to Korea in 1969 for an important meeting, telling Duggan that he might return as an 8th dan. Suahm Dosa died that year, and when Joo-Sang Lee returned, he was “in a solemn mood” and a 7th dan. Joo-Bang Lee was designated 8th dan “Grand Master” and founder of a new system called “Fa Rang Do.” Joo-Sang Lee continued to teach hapkido until his brother arrived in the U.S. in 1972. According to Duggan, Joo-Sang Lee only stayed involved with the World Hwa Rang Do Association “for about three years.” The spelling of this art was changed to hwarangdo in 1974 or 1975, after Duggan researched the proper romanization in the Encyclopedia Britannica. The Korean Hapkido Federation greatly resented this break. Joo-Bang Lee came to the U.S. in 1972, setting up a school in Downey, California. In 1977, Duggan received a copy of the 1975 Kuk Sool Training Manual from Joe Twiggs, one of his students in Arkansas. Duggan showed the manual to Joo-Bang Lee. Lee was “stunned and disquieted” and a week later handed a handwritten training syllabus to John Huppuck. Like the Kuksul manual, the syllabus listed every technique from white belt to 5th dan, and Duggan thought there was “a remarkable similarity between the two manuals.” Huppuck typed the notes into manual form, and Duggan then added English terminology for each technique, which previously had only been numbered as “Yellow Belt 1 through 28” and so on.



Kuksulweon:



In-Hyeok Seo (1939-) and his brother In-Seon Seo (aka. In-Sun Seo) are said to have founded Kuksulweon (national arts association) around 1961. In-Hyeok Seo (aka. In-Hyuk Suh) was taught first at the age of six by his grandfather, “Myung-deuk Suh,” who had been a master instructor of the Korean Royal Court Army but who, according to Hallander, was fatally wounded in the Korean War by North Korean soldiers. In-Hyeok Seo studied breathing, meditation, and ki techniques from Hae Dong Seu Nim (Great Monk on the Eastern Sunrise), a Buddhist monk. Seo went on to learn Southern Praying Mantis kung-fu under Tae-Eui Wang and then studied hapkido under Yong-Sul Choi beginning in 1958.

In-Hyeok Seo visited Mu-Hyun’ Kim’s hapkido school in Seoul in 1962. Kim had been drafted into the army, and after Seo demonstrated some of his palm-striking techniques, four of Kim’s students -- Han-Chul Lee, Woo-Tak Kim, Il-Woong Huh, and Joo-Bang Lee -- went to Pusan to train further under Seo. Seo’s other students included Han-Chul Lee, Moo-Jin Kim, Jong-Oh Lee, Myung-Ho Jang, In-Seok Seo (In-Suk Suh), In-Seon Seo (In Sun Seo), Jong-Won Byun, Jae-Choon Park, Sung-Sam Cho, and Heui-Yeong Kim.

Michael Ahn mentions that headquarters of Korean kuksul used to be the Pulguksa (Temple of the Buddha Land) near Pusan. Many of the monks there practiced the martial arts, until the Korean government decided to make Pulguksa a tourist temple. At that time, kuksul moved to Pusan and the martial arts monks moved to a different temple near Pusan.

In 1971, Han-Chul Lee and fifty other masters were sent to South America, Canada, and the U.S. to teach either hapkido or kuksul.

In 1972, In-Hyeok Seo was elected senior Vice-President of the Kido Hoe. In 1974, he moved to the U.S. with two assistants: Yong-Il Park and Yong-Kyu Park (Serino names him as Myong-Kyu Park). Kimm visited Seo in New Orleans in 1974 and they began to teach Kuksul-Hapkido (“Kuk Sool-Hapkido”). Seo and He-Young Kimm (President of the American Hapkido Association) held Kuksul-Hapkido seminars at Louisiana State University for five years (1974-1979).

In-Hyeok Seo moved to San Francisco in 1975 and established the World Kuk Sool Association. Pres. Cheong-Heui Pak sent a kuksul team to Hawaii in 1978 to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of Korean immigration to Hawaii. This team was joined in Hawaii for the demonstration by In-Hyeok Seo and He-Young Kimm from the U.S. Lee-Hyun Park (-1987), Chairman of the American Hapkido Association (A.H.A.), felt “Kimm had betrayed the AHA and gone to the World Kuk Sool Association.” According to Serino, Park and Seo had personality differences and never associated with one another. Park insisted the A.H.A. remain under the aegis of the World Musulkwan Association and Kimm therefore invited Park to take over the Association as President, a post in which Park remained until his death.

Bob Duggan recalls telling Joo-Bang Lee in 1977 of a rumor that he had trained under In-Hyeok Seo during the 1960s. According to Duggan, Lee was “famous for his violent temper” and became very angry, calling up Seo on the telephone and threatened Seo about the rumor. Seo apologized for circulating the rumor. Lee then told Duggan that he and Seo, along with “four others from various Hapkido and other styles” had formed an association of peers who developed and traded techniques. On the other hand, Duggan also notes that Lee briefly studied open-handed striking techniques with Seo and that a picture of Joo-Bang Lee’s tojang in Seoul sometime in 1964-1967 shows that he was teaching kuksul at that time. Duggan notes that kuksul kicks differed “in the early years” from hwarangdo kicks because the hwarangdo kicks emphasized power while the kuksul kicks emphasized “a tournament style snap kick.” Duggan suggests that this was because Joo-Sang Lee was “a masterful kicker and teacher of the art of kicking.” He notes that by 1997, “the difference between the two schools no longer seems so distinct.”

In 1989, In-Hyeok Seo recommended that He-Young Kimm become the President of the American Kuk Sool Association but Kimm believed this association would overlap with the World Kuk Sool Association and therefore declined. Seo then suggested Kimm start his own martial art, calling it yukweonsul. “He told him that some day, when people talk about the founders of Hankuk Musul (“Korean martial arts”), he wanted to hear the names of Kimm He-Young along with Ji Han-jae and Suh In-hyuk.” In the same year, Han-jae Ji also recommended that Kimm start his own style. Ji favored the name of Hanmu Yukweonsul, and for a time it went be this name. Kimm founded the art in 1989. It was called Han Do for a time because people from “ki training schools” believed that “Han Mudo Do was more than martial arts training.” In 1991, the name settled on Han Mu Do (Hanmudo, “Korean martial way”).



Hapkido Today:



Hapkido is currently split into many organizations, three of which are recognized by the Korean government. The Korean Kido Federation founded in 1963 overlooks many Korean arts, including hapkido and its derivatives. It is currently run by In-Seon Seo, the brother of In-Hyeok Seo. The International Hapkido Federation (I.H.F.) was founded in 1983 under Jae-Nam Myung and continues to maintain a strong link established in the 1960s with Japanese aikido. The Korean Hapkido Association, founded in 1965, was reorganized in 1984 under Se-Lim Oh after Han-Jae Ji, Mu-Hyun Kim and Jae-Nam Myung had all left and formed their own organizations. Like his instructor, Han-Jae Ji, Se-Lim Oh associated the art with the training of the Presidential Security Guard. Oh’s K.H.A. later changed its name to the Korean Hapkido Federation (K.H.F.). Scott Shaw is the best known student of the K.H.F. in the U.S.

Various American and Canadian instructors have founded their own federations. These include Don Burns, Michael Wollmerhauser, Michael Pelligrini, Vic Cushing, James Benko, James R. West, Serge Baubil, Rudy Timmerman, and others. The history of the U.S.H.F. under Don Burns is as follows:



United States Hapkido Federation (1981): Don Burns (1942-) started training in judo in 1961 under Tony Wickramesekra and Bob Gidda in 1961 at Bunker Hill Air Force Base. He also trained under Dr. Sung Jae Park beginning in 1963, and in 1970 became part of the faculty of Health, Physical Education and Recreation at Indiana University at Bloomington. He was then a 2nd dan in judo. He began to study t'aekwondo under Mu-Gil Lee in 1972, and tested under Chong-Chul Kim for his black belt in 1975. In 1974, he began to study hapkido under Ki-Duk Lee (aka. Duck Lee, Duke Lee). In 1981, Don Burns founded the United States Hapkido Federation (U.S.H.F., Miguk Hapkido Yonmaeng) in Bloomington, Indiana. Burns and Ki-Duk Lee had a disagreement that same year, with Burns wishing to expand his knowledge of the martial arts by studying other styles, while Lee believed that it was important to control one’s students. Since then, Don Burns has served as the President of the U.S.H.F. and has taught hapkido as a foundation skill that he encourages his students to build upon through the study of other styles. As a result, the various instructors of the U.S.H.F. also hold instructor rank in taijiquan, kali, silat, kempo, t'aekweondo, jeet kune do, jujutsu, judo, iaido, and other arts. The chief innovation of the U.S.H.F. is their system of body movements, which Burns developed from the tai sabaki (body movements) of judo. The U.S.H.F. originally taught baton, cane, hanbo, and nunchaku, but has since replaced the hanbo and nunchaku drills with knife techniques. The organization has several schools throughout Indiana and Illinois. The U.S.H.F. and the American Hapkido Association under Michael Wollmershauser agreed in the 1980s to recognize each other’s black belts. Robert Spear is the most famous hapkido practitioner that belongs to the U.S.H.F.