| Grand
Master Hwang was born in Teagu, Korea. Taegu is the third largest city
south of the 38th parallel, and is south east of Seoul and north of
Busan. At the age of eleven, he started his martial arts training.
After graduating with a degree in Political Science from KyungPook
National University he joined the Republic of Korean Army as a
commissioned officer in 1964. Due to an ankle injury, Grand Master
Hwang finished second in his class for the Korean Airborne. He
served with the Korean Airborne as a Ranger officer while serving his
country in Vietnam. He was stationed in Saigon, Chu Ly, and several
others. He taught Taekwon-Do to the Korean Tiger Division, the Korean
Army, US Army, US Marines, and Vietnamese Army. While in Vietnam, he
received commendation medals from Korea and Vietnam. He retired from
the ROK Army in 1970 as a Captain and Service Company Commander of the
26th Infantry Division which was also known as the Taekwon-Do
Division.
In
1971, Grand Master Hwang was invited to the US and first taught a
credited class at Manchester Community Technical College
opening his first Taekwon-Do school the following year. In 1974 Grand
Master Hwang graduated from the first International Taekwon-Do
Federation Instructors Course and Umpires Course held by General Choi,
Hong Hi in Montréal Canada. General Choi promoted a small handful of
men to ninth degree with Grand Master Rhee (of UK) being promoted
first and Grand Master Sereff and Grand Master Hwang being promoted
the same day as each other a few years after Grand Master Rhee’s
promotion. These three men never left General Choi and considered the
three pioneering grandmasters of ITF.
Grand
Master Hwang has served as Director of the USA Junior Taekwon-Do team
every Junior World Championships since 1990. He also served as the USA
Senior Taekwon-Do Team Director in 1989 and 1992. Simultaneously,
Grand Master Hwang served as special assistant to General Choi,
Official Spokesman of the ITF, Chairman of the ITF Promotion & Merger
Committees, and Secretary General of the ITF . He currently resides in
Connecticut.
Grand Master Hwang currently oversees many schools throughout the world
and Unified-ITF. He travels and gives seminars
in places such as Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Canada, Greece, Italy, India,
Ireland, Mexico, Philippines, Scotland, and Singapore.
Information
About Grand Master Hwang's Resignation From ITF |