General Choi Hong Hi (1918 - 2002) is the founder of Taekwon-Do and the first President of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (I.T.F). He was a retired Major General in the South Korean Army and was the country's first ambassador to Malaysia. General Choi holds a Ninth Degree Black Belt, the highest in his chosen art. Towards the end of the Second World War, he was forced to join the Japanese Army as a student volunteer. Later, he was sentenced to seven years in jail for planning to overthrow the Japanese Military High Command. It was during this time that General Choi first started developing the movements and patterns that make up the art of Taekwon-Do. He was later sentenced to death and excution was scheduled to take place on August 18, 1944. Korea was liberated from the Japanese on August 16 and he was released.

General Choi originally studied the ancient art of Tae-Kyon which was first practiced approximately 1300 years ago during the Silla Dynasty in Korea before he developed Taekwon-Do.

Taekwon-Do would not be where it is today without the effort and hard work put in by General Choi and the pioneers of Taekwon-Do, who went through great odds to introduce this art to the world. The actual words Tae Kwon Do did not exist in that form in Korean language until General Choi Hong Hi put it to a specially formed naming committee on April 11, 1955. As a soldier and later a general, he was able to introduce Taekwon-Do as a compulsory course in the military curriculum. It was through his military liaison that he was able to spread the knowledge of the art internationally. Due to General Choi's success and achievements with the popularity of Taekwon-Do, his colleagues were bitter and jealous and as a result his career in the army came to an abrupt end.

General Choi stood firm with his ideals to not use Taekwon-Do as an instrument to strength the South Korean government's dictatorship. International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) was formed on the 22nd of March 1966. The South Korean government in the mean time was quick to set up the rival World Taekwon-Do Federation (WTF) and since then Taekwon-Do has been split.

The name Taekwon-Do actually describes a system of self defence devised and named by General Choi Hong Hi.