Grand Master Kwang Jo Choi

Since developing Choi Kwang Do, Grandmaster Choi has taught CKD to the American military at Fort Benning in Georgia, the largest infantry training centre in the USA, to the U.S. Rangers; to Georgia law enforcement officers; to narcotic agents; and to thousands of Choi Kwang Do students around the world.

During his military service in Korea, Grandmaster Choi became a chief Instructor and met General Choi Hong Hi (the founder of Taekwon-do) when the military began to use that system for unarmed combat. After completing his military service Grandmaster Choi was named a chief instructor for the International Taekwon-Do Federation (and taught martial arts instructors from Korea and overseas. He also instructed the police and members of the armed forces.

Kwang Jo realised that the harsher, lockout movements used in conventional martial arts was causing him injuries. In 1970 he went to the USA for medical treatment but after seeing various doctors decided to rehabilitate his body without surgery. As a result, he began to study anatomy, physiology and human-movement sciences. From 1978 to 1987 he incorporated everything he had learned into a new martial arts system called Choi Kwang Do, which translates as “the art (or method) of Kwang Choi.”