At 39, 7th dan Black Belt J.C. Kim has been called one of the International Taekwon-Do Federation’s most valued instructors, and rightly so. Born in Japan, Feb. 12, 1935, Kim returned to his parent’s home county, Korea at the end of the Second World War. With a childhood interest that encompassed all forms of athletic activity (boxing, wrestling, etc.) Kim only first began to dabble in the martial arts after the Korean War (1954).
In 1957, his national duty led him to serve in the Korean Army where he first became involved in the establishment of a military school teaching Taekwon-Do. Feeling that the growth potential of Taekwon-Do in the military was not something to be overlooked. J.C. Kim, along with Maj. Park, began to invite other instructors to teach at what was then called the 7th Infantry Taekwon-Do school. It was not, however, until the introduction of the first military Taekwon-Do officers course that J.C. Kim himself began to achieve a more serious practice and t he martial art made its way felt in the Korean Army.
On March 22, 1966, the International Taekwon-Do Federation was founded and Kim became the committee coordinator. This was swiftly followed by an appointment as the ITF’s first chief instructor. From there began his extensive teachings in Taekwon-Do in Korean, beginning with a special invitation issued by the Korean National Police Department. Shortly after, the Minister of Defense asked J.C. Kim to give special instruction for Korean’s combined military servers. In 1966, Kim taught an ROTC course in Taekwon-Do at Seoul University. In 1967, he officially organized the International Instructors Training Course, also in Seoul. in April 1968, with an invitation from the Singapore Minister of Health and Welfare, Kim demonstrated his art so successfully that he was asked to provide an extensive course in Taekwon-Do instruction by the Malaysian Taekwon-Do Association. With a few thousand students under his tutelage, J.C. Kim later organized the first, second, and third Malaysian Taekwon-Do Championships. Later he was also responsible for the First Asian Taekwon-Do Tournament, held in Hong Kong. Enthused by the latter’s success, the Second Asian Taekwon-Do Tournament was organized in Malaysia and was marked with a guest appearance by the King and Prime Minister.
Finally in 1970, J.C. Kim began to have thoughts about a world tour and decided to visit with his good friend C.K. Choi in Vancouver. After spending several months, Kim returned to Malaysia to discuss with his family and General Choi Hong Hi the possibility of opening a school in Montreal. After much deliberation and intensive searching for the ideal location, Kim opened his first school in Montreal’s east end, following shortly after with two additional schools, one in a west end location, the other recently opened downtown.
J.C. Kim is presently involved in plans to introduce Taekwon-Do to the upcoming 1976 Olympics to be held in Montreal along with the First World Taekwon-D0 Championship, that latter to be held October 4-5 1974 in the Montreal Forum.
THIS WAS ORIGINALLY IN THE SEPTEMBER 1974 ISSUE OF ORIENTAL FIGHTING ARTS
