Han Bong-soo, known as Bong-soo Han, was a Korean martial artist, author, and the founder of the International Hapkido Federation.
22 Facts About Han Bong-soo
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Han Bong-soo was one of the foremost and recognized practitioners of hapkido through his participation in books, magazine articles, and popular films featuring the martial art.
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Han Bong-soo is often referred to as the "Father of Hapkido" in America.
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Han Bong-soo began his study of hapkido as a teenager with Yongsul Choi in Seoul, Korea but the bulk of his training came from numerous other hapkido instructors where he received most of his black belt rankings.
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Han Bong-soo studied and refined this Korean martial art for more than 50 years.
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Han Bong-soo held the rank of 9th dan black belt in hapkido.
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Han Bong-soo was the founder of the International Hapkido Federation, and was its president until his death.
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From 1948 to 1950, Han Bong-soo studied kwon bup, which was a mixture of Chinese chuan fa methods and Shudokan karate, and earned a black belt in the art under Byung-in Yoon.
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Han Bong-soo began his training in Hapkido after going to see a demonstration put on by the founder, Yong-sul Choi.
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Han Bong-soo being a senior student of Yong-sul Choi, assisted in promoting the first hapkido school in the country's capital city.
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In 1959, Han Bong-soo opened his own hapkido school in the Samgangji section of Seoul.
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Han Bong-soo became an influential teacher and taught people in both the Korean military and the Korean presidential guard.
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In 1967, during the Vietnam War, Han Bong-soo taught self-defense to hundreds of American and Korean military personnel as part of a demonstration team for the Korea Hapkido Association.
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In 1967, Han Bong-soo emigrated to the United States of America, first staying with and teaching at his friend Seo-oh Choi's hapkido school in California.
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Han Bong-soo later opened his own school in Los Angeles in 1968.
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On July 4,1969, Han Bong-soo was giving a demonstration of hapkido at a park in Pacific Palisades, California.
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Han Bong-soo gained critical acclaim for staging and performing some of the most realistic martial arts fight sequences in a film.
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Han Bong-soo continued to choreograph fight sequences and bring martial arts to the big screen.
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Han Bong-soo has been the subject of many magazine and newspaper articles, martial arts magazine cover stories, and was a member of the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in 1978 and the Martial Arts History Museum Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Han Bong-soo completed a series of ten instructional Hapkido DVDs which are in worldwide distribution.
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Han Bong-soo died at his home in Santa Monica, California, on January 8,2007.
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Han Bong-soo was buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.