The history of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF)®️ in the USA starts right after the formation of the ITF in March 1966. In the beginning, there was not a single USA-ITF group (actually never has been), but individuals and the groups they founded or were part of were ITF members.
The first time an American organization at least attempted to be organized was by Gen. Choi himself along with 27 Korean instructors. In his book series Taekwon-Do and I Volume 1-3 (Korean), and Volume 1-2 (English) Gen. Choi stated at the end of 1966 or the first of 1967. ∗(I used the Korean version and translated it, so any errors are my own!)
“In the U.S.A. I had been invited by Judo (judo) master Shin, Kyung-sun to visit Chicago. After a Taekwon-Do tournament on the night I arrived, I had called upon all the Korean (nationals) Taekwon-Do instructors to the hotel where I was staying to found a united Taekwon-Do association in the U.S.A.” He further stated ” There were 27 early Taekwon-Do pioneers gathered, including Rhee, Jhoon-Gyu; Cho, Shi-hak (Henry); and Shim, Sang-kyu. I addressed the importance of the role of Taekwon-Do in the international arena and emphasized the necessity of founding a Taekwon-Do Association in the U.S.A. All agreed. So a meeting was held to elect the staff members. The Korean (South of course) Ambassador to the U.S.A. Kim, Dong-jo was appointed as the Honorary President, and Senator Milton R. Young, as the President. Kim, Hyu-ha, and two others were assigned as Vice Presidents. Rhee, Jhoon-gu as the Secretary-General, Shim, Sang-kyu as the Planner; Park, Man-suh as Treasurer; Baik, Moon-gu as Disciplinary Director; Kim, In-mook as Auditor; Cho, Shi-hak as Tournament Controller; Chun, In-moon (Richard) as the Public Relations Officer; Cha, Soo-young as the General Manager; Kim, Il-Ju as the Chief Referee and Chun, Kye-bae as the Technical Advisor. This organization never really materialized as a solid group. Some of these were political appointments, some of these men were Yudo (judo instructors), and you see a mix of ChungDo Kwan, SongMoo Kwan & MooDuk Kwan black belts as well.
One of the first organizations within the USA that were “cohesive” was one that most don’t think of or recall being associated with the ITF and that was the American Taekwondo
Association (now ATA International) was originally founded as the MidWest Karate Association in 1962 and went nationwide with the ATA by 1969. The ATA was in 1966 under the directions of Kang, Suh-Chonghong who was the first ATA president, and Lee, Haeng-Ung the founder of the ATA with his students. The ATA originally taught the ChungDo Kwan style of Tangsoodo (Pyung Ahn Hyung etc.) but after learning the patterns from Gen. Choi over a weekend in 1966 they started to teach the ChangHon style and did so until about 1983 with the creation of the SongAhm style. But, the ATA officially broke all ITF ties by early 1980 before Gen. Choi took an ITF demonstration team to the DPRK (North Korea).
GM Nam, Tae-hi was head of the American Taekwon-Do Federation based in Chicago, IL. The USA. He started the ATF in 1969 as an alternative to the ATA under Kang. He kept the ATF as his organization even after the founding of the USTF in 1974. He supported the USTF and put his organization on the back burner until he split with the ITF and General Choi in 1981.
The largest and longest-running supporter of the ITF in the USA was the United States Taekwon-Do Federation®️(USTF) which was founded in Chicago, Illinois on 20 July 1974, eight years after the formation of the ITF. The founding president was Robert (Bob) Mathias (November 17, 1930 – September 2, 2006) an American decathlete, two-time Olympic gold medalist in the event, a United States Marine Corps officer, actor, and United States Congressman representing the state of California. The Senior Vice President was Nam, Tae-hi (8th Dan) of Chicago, Ill., VP was Yang, Dong-ja (7th Dan who would later go on to be a founding member of the American Olympic Taekwondo movement in the AAU and then the United States Taekwondo Union (USTU). Regional VP was Robert Walson (5th Dan east coast), Chong, Joon-san (6th Dan midwest), and Charles Sereff (4th Dan west), who in 1979 was elected the USTF President and is currently the USTF President Emeritus.
Another early ITF supporter was Rhee, Jhoon-gu of Texas then later Washington D.C., and one of the earliest Korean instructors to use the term “Taekwon-Do” instead of “Karate” or “Korean Karate”. His support of the ITF stopped about the same time as the founding of the USTF in part because of a series of books he authored on the color belt patterns that he was to share royalty with Gen. Choi and the ITF and his involvement with the Moonie organizations and the South Korean government.
Another smaller regional group that started as the MidWest Taekwon-Do Association and now the International Taekwon-Do Association led by GM James Benko of Michigan had direct ITF contact until about 1981/82 when he severed ties with the ITF when they went to the DPRK (North Korea).
In 1985, after many native Koreans left the ITF due to political pressures (and or disputes with General Choi & many non-Americans were not welcome into the USTF), Master Cho,
Dae-San of Dallas, Texas created the KoreAmerica Taekwon-Do Union (KATU)∇ it was not official formation until February 1989, on the insistence of General Choi. It initially did bring in or brought back some Koreans to the ITF fold but also many others were part of KATU that didn’t fit into the other ITF USA groups. In Texas was Gwen F. Hall then a 5th Dan, in Kentucky was me a 3rd Dan, Indiana was Kim, Yong-soo (7th Dan) and in Connecticut was Hwang, Kwang-sung (7th Dan), and would later assume the head of KATU after Cho, Dae-sung left the ITF in 1989. GM Hall, myself, Master Kim, and GM Cho all previously had “kwan” certificates from the ITF allowing us to affiliate with the ITF directly before the formation of KATU and keeping us out of the USTF and other affiliations. KATU remained a “sister” NGB (The USTF would field/train the Adult teams/trials for championships, and KATU would do the same for the Juniors) along with the USTF until Grandmaster Hwang dropped KATU to form the ITF-USA (GM Hwang supported the claim of Chang Ung/DPRK, while GM Sereff initially remained silent for any ITF support) and then within a year left the ITF and formed the Unified International Taekwon-Do Federation (UITF) which is now morphed into Unified Taekwon-Do. Currently, under this ITF, the NGB is National American Taekwon-Do Federation (NATF-ITF) & United States Official Taekwon-Do Organization (USOTO).
After the passing of Gen. Choi in the DPRK (North Korea), and the split of the ITF a year prior after the “election” of his son Choi, Jung-Hwa to replace Gen. Choi in Rimini, Italy in 2001 the ITF led by his son started what they called the INO (independent national organizations) system to replace the NGB system of his fathers♦. The first USA INO was the Kido Kwan with INO #27, then followed by the USITF (INO# 50), then the Phoenix Group (INO# 78) and they have had many over the years, so not having a single or dual group, but more of what the ITF used in the 1960s and 70s.
♦ 14 AUG 2018 GM Earl Weiss noted the following, as he was directly involved in witnessing the actions and wrote …..“The 2001 Rimini vote was to have the son replace general Choi at some future date. That date never occurred because a t special January 2002 congress the vote was undone and the son adjourned to a hotel room and formed his group splitting from the main group.”
The next US ITF group was with the third ITF offshoot under Master Tran Triệu Quân ◊ started what they call “National Associations” (NA) with their first being the ITF-USA and then currently three others the NTA, OTFA, and ATFI.
◊ 14 Aug. 2018 GM Earl Weiss also stated…… “This group could hardly be called the 3rd offshoot since its core remained intact. General Choi- Russell MacLellan, – Tran Quan. maintaining continuity of the Championships and congress schedule while General Choi was still alive. The first offshoot would have been the son in January 2002, and the second would have been the NK-controlled group which initially attempted its coup following the memorial service in September and continued its efforts with the subsequent rescheduling of a congress.”
Today, the ITF in the USA is in some ways much stronger, and in others weaker. There are many more times the amount of “governing bodies” of the ITF in the USA, but, also 3 major ITF groups, and several smaller ones.
∇
∇ Kido Kwan & author own the Trademark for KATU
4 thoughts on “ITF History in the U.S.A.”
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Again I say you are misinformed as to when GM C.E. Sereff received his 5th Degree. The picture above is from August 26, 1973. This tournament was the first five man competition in which the new Saf-T equipment was used. This is verified in GM Sereff’s bio.
Thank you for your information. According to GM Sereffs previous listed promotion dates he was promoted to 5th Dan in 1974. This was about a year after the first Canadian international instructors course. According to two black belts who were present, they indicated that the date is correct, however, if it is not, please provide the source and as always I will gladly change the date(s) accordingly. Thank you again for your interest and attention to detail!
OK. Lets start with the picture as described By GM Renee Sereff. “Master Rhee ki Ha presenting C.E.’s 5th Dan Black Belt. Seated next to gen. Choi was Dr. Stalcup, head of the School of education at Denver University, who was instrumental in establishing Taekwon-Do as a college credit course…. This tournament was the first one in which safety gear was used. ”
When was this tournament? This tournament was the Five man team championship in which Saf-T equipment was tried by the ITF. The teams were Washington D.C. All Stars, Denver A and B teams, and Chicago All Stars. Only the Chicago All Stars didn’t participate with the gear since they didn’t have time to train with them. This tournament happened on August 26, 1973.
Also occurring this year was the first ITF Umpire course. 29 specially selected instructors were chosen to partake in the training. Among those listed were Robert Walson, 5th Dan from the USA and Charles Sereff, 5th Dan from the USA. This Umpire course occurred between August and October 1973. Also listed in Vol. 1 No. 2 of Tae Kwon Do Digest of contribution of Non-Koreans. ” A nuber of High Ranking black belts are emerging from the ranks, and for the first time, two non- Koreans, C.E. Sereff of Colorado and Robert Walson of Virginia, have been awarded Fifth Degree black belts.”
GM Sereff was promoted to 5th Dan after Robert Walson. GM Sereff was promoted to 5th Dan in 1974 according to GM Sereff. Now, if Grandmaster Sereff is wrong about the year of promotion which is published in at least three places then it would seem that’s an error on GM Sereff’s part. As for the date of this presentation I’m not sure how GM Sereff could be promoted a year prior, unless of course the listed date is wrong. Also, the tournament I listed the host Eun, Sang-Ki indicated that the certificate presentation happened when listed. While, you could be correct, the fact that Eun said that happened then, the fact that the published date of GM Sereff indicates he was promoted in 1974 and not 1973 as you indicate, then without GM Sereff updating the promotion date it seems prudent to not change anything, however, your note is attached and if further clarification comes to light, as always I’ll be happy to correct the mislabeled or incorrect information. Thanks again for your attention to detail!