Haeng Ung Lee

H.U. Lee was born in Manchukuo, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in 1936. After World War II, his family relocated to South Korea, where Lee began his martial arts training in 1953, and earned his first degree black belt in 1954. In 1956, Lee entered the Korean army as a trainer for special troops. He spent this time as part of an intelligence unit on Baengnyoung Island. After three years, he retired and opened a taekwondo school at Osan Air Base. There, he met Richard Reed, who would later be the sponsor to his emigration to the United States in 1962. Lee moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where in 1969 he co-founded the American Taekwondo Association. Omaha remained the organization's headquarters until Lee relocated it to Little Rock, Arkansas in 1977. H.U. Lee developed the discipline of Songham Taekwondo in 1983. And in 1990, the ATA Master's Council awarded Lee the rank of 9th degree black belt and the title of "Grand Master."