| Nam Tae-hi | |
| Birth Date: | 19 March 1929 |
| Birth Place: | Keijō, Keiki-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan |
| Death Place: | Garden Grove, California, United States |
| Martial Art: | Taekwondo |
| Teacher: | Won-kuk Lee |
| Rank: | 9th dan taekwondo |
| Students: | Han Cha-kyo, Jhoon-goo Rhee |
Nam Tae-hi (; 19 March 1929 – 7 November 2013) was a pioneering South Korean master of taekwondo[1] [2] [3] [4] and is known as the "Father of Vietnamese Taekwondo".[1] With Choi Hong-hi, he co-founded the "Oh Do Kwan" and led the twelve original masters of taekwondo of the Korea Taekwon-Do Association (KTA).[1] [5]
Nam was born in March 1929 in Keijō (Seoul), Korea, Empire of Japan.[1] He began training in the martial arts in 1946, training after school for five nights each week.[6] Nam's training continued in the Chung Do Kwan under Lee Won-kuk.[6] It has been claimed that Nam introduced Bok-man Kim (a pioneering master and one of the technical founders of taekwondo, working with Choi) to taekkyeon in 1948,[7] but other sources indicate Nam did not meet Bok-man Kim until 1954.[8]
While a captain in the South Korean military forces, Nam met Choi,[1] and acted as Choi's second-in-command in the early days of taekwondo. Nam was pivotal in the development of taekwondo, and was called Choi's "right hand man" in the latter's official biography.[9] In 1954, at the rank of 2nd dan, Nam participated in a military demonstration of martial arts for the president of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, and broke 13 roof tiles with a downward punch; Rhee was reportedly so impressed that he subsequently ordered all Korean military personnel to undergo training in martial arts.[3] [6] [10] [11]
In March 1959, Nam was a member of the first Korean taekwondo demonstration team to travel overseas, demonstrating his martial art in Vietnam and Taiwan.[1] Around this time, he was appointed president of the Asia Taekwon-Do Federation, and was also one of the founding directors of the KTA.[9] In 1962, Nam was appointed as Chief Instructor of taekwondo for the Vietnamese army, and came to be known as the Father of Taekwondo in Vietnam.[1] Nam designed the Chang Hon taekwondo patterns Hwa-Rang hyung, Chung-Mu hyung, and UI-Ji hyung.[1]
Nam moved to the Chicago area in 1972, opened a dojang in 1973, and then later lived in Los Angeles.[1] He appears on Chang-keun Choi's list of taekwondo pioneers.[12] In 2007, he was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame.[13]
After being admitted to hospital due to pneumonia, Nam died on 7 November 2013 in Garden Grove, California, USA.[14] [15] [16]