United Kingdom
In 1967, some of his students in the RAF, who had returned to the United Kingdom, invited Rhee to travel there to teach. He arrived at Heathrow Airport, London, on 2 July 1967, and was ranked 5th dan at the time. Reportedly, Rhee only planned to stay for two years, but ended up settling there. Rhee Ki Ha founded the United Kingdom Taekwon-Do Association (UKTA) in 1967, the Republic of Ireland Taekwon-Do Association in 1972, at which time he was ranked 5th dan, and the All European Taekwon-Do Association in 1979. He was promoted to the rank of 7th dan either by 1973 or in 1974, according to different sources. Rhee attained the rank of 8th dan in 1981, and was the first person ever promoted to 9th dan by H. H. Choi on 1 July 1997 in Saint Petersburg, Russia, taking from that point onwards the honorific of "First" Grand Master Rhee. Rhee was also described by Choi as "the best ever student of Taekwon-Do."
Rhee is currently Vice President of one of the three ITF organisations. He is listed as the "Founder of Taekwon-Do in Great Britain and Ireland" in the Taekwondo Hall of Fame. He is listed as a pioneer in Europe (1950s, 1960s, and 1970s) in Chang Keun Choi's list of taekwondo pioneers.
Read more about this topic: Ki Ha Rhee
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