page_title: Nam Suk Lee
section_title: Role in expansion of Chang Moo Kwan
hierarchical_section_title: Nam Suk Lee / Role in expansion of Chang Moo Kwan
caption_attribution_description: English: A picture showing the Participants in the 13th regular promotion test. The picture was taken in 1953
context_page_description: Nam Suk Lee born in the city of Yeo Joo, is credited with co-founding the traditional Korean martial art of Chang Moo Kwan in the mid-1940s, and then promoting and expanding it globally. Chang Moo Kwan was one of the five original Kwans which became Tae Kwon Do in the mid 1950s. In his later life Nam Suk Lee was to make the seaside community of San Pedro, California his home, where he reestablished his traditional roots in Chang Moo Kwan. He was 75 and still actively teaching Chang Moo Kwan through the San Pedro YMCA. Nam Suk Lee died in the neighboring Southern California community of Torrance on August 29, 2000, due to a stroke.
context_section_description: In 1953 immediately after the end of the Korean War, Nam Suk Lee hit the ground running with Chang Moo Kwan, implementing his art as a way to help rebuild the Korean spirit, student by student.  An employee at the Ministry of Communications, it would make sense this was where he continued teaching Chang Moo Kwan. In December 1953, the 13th Regular Promotion Test was held. Hundreds of students were already embracing and reaping the mental, physical, and emotional benefits of Chang Moo Kwan.  The 1950s saw an explosion of dojangs, demonstrations, and recognition.
  In the mid 1955 several Korean martial arts masters got together and unified several different "kwans" or schools under the common name "The Art of the China Hand" which a few years later became Tae Kwon Do, the "art of kicking and punching."   At this point Nam Suk Lee's Chang Moo Kwan was frequently referred to as Tae Kwon Do, and may very well have begun to lose some of its uniqueness. In September 1961 the Korean Tae Kwon Do Association was formed (KTA). Nam Suk Lee was appointed to the Chair of General Director to the KTA in 1961; however, in January 1962 he resigned.    In 1965 the KTA was reorganized by the Korean government, and by original design, it would allow each school or "kwan" to maintain some control over their individualism, including technique, philosophies, and forms.  Wiedenman maintains "I don't think Grandmaster Nam Suk Lee was entirely comfortable with watering down anything with his homespun traditional art."
  Nam Suk Lee rejoined the newly reformed Korean Tae Kwon Do Association by serving as its General Director in 1967 and then Vice President in January 1969; moreover, he was reappointed to this post in 1971. May 28, 1973 marked the formation of the World Tae Kwon Do Association (WTF). Nam Suk Lee was appointed as an Executive Council Member of the WTF in 1973, concurrently he was appointed as the Vice Chairman Council of Techniques by the KTA.
  During the early 1970s Nam Suk Lee traveled extensively visiting Chang Moo Kwan studios both in Korea and outside Korea.  At its pinnacle, 1976, the distribution of Chang Moo Kwan was made up of about 900 studios or dojangs, and almost 400 of them were overseas. During the late 1960s and early 1970s Nam Suk Lee entertained visitors from all over the world as he traveled globally to many countries including Germany, Brazil, Venezuela, and extensively in the United States. The "Green Book", as it is nicknamed, is a yearbook of sorts titled "On the Occasion of the 30th Anniversary of founding (Sept 1 1946-Sept 1 1976)." It is a snapshot of "the way things were at Chang Moo Kwan's apex."  It contains a directory of studios across the United States and world including Australia, Canada, Central America, South America, The Caribbean, Europe, and the Middle and Far East.
caption: A picture showing the Participants in the 13th regular promotion test. The picture was taken in 1953.
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