Dr. Richard Chun was a 9th Dan International Grand Master Instructor of Taekwondo and a member of the Black Belt Hall of Fame. In 2004, Dr. Chun was added to the Taekwondo Times Hall of Fame by Taekwondo Times Magazine.
A graduate of Yon Sei University in Seoul in 1957, he organized and served as a team captain of the Taekwondo Club. Immigrating to the United States in 1962, he earned an M.B.A. in marketing and a Ph.D. in education. He is a retired Professor of Health and Physical Education at Hunter College, City University of New York. Dr. Chun has been teaching Taekwondo at his center In New York for four decades.
He was instrumental in organizing the Annual Universal Taekwondo Championships in the 1960’s. He was appointed head coach of the U.S.A. Taekwondo team in 1973 for the first World Taekwondo Championships in Seoul. The U.S.A. Team placed second after Korea. He has traveled and lectured extensively at local Taekwondo schools around the country as well as made appearances on TV talk shows. He went on to establish the United States Taekwondo Association in 1980 and has served as its President as well as assisted in the organization of Taekwondo as an event in the 1988 Olympics. Dr. Chun has since served as Senior International Referee for championships and the Olympics. In the fall of 1985, Dr. Chun was appointed as a Special Assistant to the President of the World Taekwondo Federation, Dr. Un Yong Kim. He continues to train senior black belts around the world. Dr. Chun was inducted to the Black Belt Hall of Fame by Black Belt Magazine in 1979 and in 2004, he was inducted Taekwondo Times Hall of Fame by Taekwondo Times Magazine.
He is the author of several important books on Taekwondo and the martial arts, all of which have been translated into several foreign languages. The Association uses the texts of Grandmaster Chun as a guideline in assessing and instructing its members. Grandmaster Chun managed the Association with the help of an advisory committee.
Dr. Chun has also been a member of the Lions Clubs International for over forty years, where he has served as District Governor.