Dai-won Moon is a South Korean-born Mexican

martial artist Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defense; military and law enforcement applications; competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; and the preserv ...

and is known as the Father of Mexican Taekwondo. He introduced

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. ...

to Mexico in 1969. Since then, with over 1.5 million taekwondo practitioners and 3,500 schools throughout the country, taekwondo has become one of the most popular sports in the nation.

Biography

Moon was born in the small village of Duk Hap, 200 km south of

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

. His father, Chang Wook Moon worked in the administration of President

Syngman Rhee Syngman Rhee (, ; 26 March 1875 – 19 July 1965) was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last president of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Ko ...

. He became a black belt at the age of 16. Moon graduated from

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sy ...

with a degree in architecture and originally had plans to settle in the United States. He competed in various American martial arts tournaments between 1963 and 1968. He is also an alumnus of

Kyung Hee University Kyung Hee University (abbreviated to KHU) (Hangul: 경희대학교; Hanja: 慶熙大學校) is a private research university in South Korea with campuses in Seoul and Suwon. Founded in 1949, it is widely regarded as one of the best universities ...

. He first arrived in Mexico in 1968 on an invitation from a friend. According to Moon during his first visit, "I'd teach, it was very tough and

he Mexican students He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

endured, that I liked, a lot of spirit, courage, attitude and devotion." On May 22, 1969 he arrived with intentions to stay and has lived in the country since then. In 1975 he became a naturalized Mexican citizen and he has four Mexican-born children. In Mexico he established ''Moo Duk Kwan'', a school to "make Mexican taekwondo one of the strongest in the world". From 1973, when the

World Taekwondo Championships The World Taekwondo Championship is held every two years by World Taekwondo. Competitions 1 Wuxi, China, was originally selected to host the 2021 World Taekwondo Championships. Due to the impact of the Global COVID-19 pandemic, Wuxi gave up ...

began, Mexico was represented by Moon's school. Until the sixth World Championship, in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in 1983, he personally took, trained and bankrolled the Mexican athletes. In 1975, Moon promoted the creation of the ''Federación Mexicana de Taekwondo''. The association of ''Moo Duk Kwan'' schools numbers around 350. Moon taught over 300,000 students and 50,000 earned black belts, earning the title of “

Gran Maestro A Gran maestro was the unofficial head of state in the Italian city-states. The role could depend on holding a particular office, military power or a general subversion of the constitution. The Scaliger family in Verona converted their control o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moon, Dai-won Mexican people of Korean descent South Korean male taekwondo practitioners Mexican male taekwondo practitioners Living people South Korean emigrants to Mexico Sportspeople from Seoul Texas Tech University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) Kyung Hee University alumni Naturalized citizens of Mexico