The Taegeuk forms were developed in 1972 during the same time period when TaeKwonDo was chosen as the national sport of Korea and the Korea TaeKwonDo Association began to formalize a national standard for TaeKwonDo history, techniques and dojo certification.
By 1972, Un-Yong Kim had transformed the Korea TaeKwonDo Association into the World TaeKwonDo Federation and was instrumental in developing the 8 Taegeuk forms and 9 Black Belt forms. The structure and content of the forms were created with the intent of having them become part of the elementary and middle school curriculums. All movements were harmonized with same movements to the left and right and each movement started with a defense and then a strike.
Our founder, Mr. Kim (1941-2023) was a senior student of Un-Yong Kim and integrated the Taeguek forms into our program after they were designated to be the official forms of the World TaeKwonDo Federation. Mr. Kim chose his senior student (James Garrison) to travel to Korea and learn the Taegeuk forms from Lee Moon Ho. Lee was a 12x Kumite (fighting) and Forms Champion, and served as the Korean National Coach from 1972-1977 and the French National Coach from 1980-1988.
The Taegeuk forms have changed over the years, with less emphasis on the use of hips and lower body, and a shift to stylized kicking over functional kicking. At Pacific Rim, we have chosen to stay true to the original vision for the forms as created by UnYong Kim and transferred to us by Lee Moon Ho.
