Eternal Grand Master H. U. Lee begins his “way” in TAEKWONDO after learning in the streets, then in a professional school in his home town Seoul under the direction of Grand masters Duk Sung Son, Jong Myong Hyun, and Un` Kyu Eom. Then, as today,
there was a shortage of qualified people who wanted to teach the art, so a young red belt, H. U. Lee begins to teach after receiving his instructor`s permission.
Later Haeng Ung Lee as a 3rd degree joined the Korean Army to teach military intelligence people. He found himself on a cold island off the coast of North Korea. He made several combat missions.
After serving his country, he opened a professional school in Osan, near a U.S. Air
Force base and found success. He later opened a branch of schools. An American Airman at the base offered help for him to come to America to teach. Eternal Grand Master Lee knew even then that teaching traditional Taekwondo all over the U.S and
the world was his life`s goal.
Once in the U.S., Eternal Grand Master Lee first worked to build his first school in Omaha, Nebraska. Then he turned to fellow senior Korean and American instructors to build an organisation. In 1969, the American Taekwondo Association was founded.

Rapid growth brings ATA innovation in martial arts

• 1973 - World`s first copyrighted instructor`s manual standard operating procedures.
• 1980 - Toll-Free telephone lines
  Quarterly tabloid newspaper, the ATA NEWS
  World`s first computer system for research and record keeping
  World`s largest tournament-2,700 competitors
• 1983 - ATA magazine-TAEKWONDO WORLD
  Songahm Form was created
• 1985 - Songahm Taekwondo Federation (STF) was formed in South America.
• 1990 - First Master to test in front of 10,000 people to inaugurate to Grand Master. Formed World Traditional Taekwondo Union (WTTU) for World Wide Songahm Taekwondo.
• 1992 - Retirement program for school owners started.