What information on the Taekwondo background of Rhee Taekwondo Master
Chong Chul Rhee is available?

According to [1] he was a leading instructor of the Korean Marines and
taught special unarmed combat methods to the Marine Commandos. He is
also reputed to be an original student of Taekwondo founder General
Choi Hong Hi although I'm not sure about the authenticity of this.

To answer this question (hence the high price) I'm looking for:

1) Mention anywhere of his involvement in the Korean Marines apart
from Taekwondo promotional material.
2) Any pointers to pictures, text or documents about where and when he
trained in Taekwondo or what his Taekwondo background is. There are
reputed to be photographic images on the net of him in his original
Taekwondo class. I'm unable to find them.
3) Information on his brothers, Master Chong Hyup Rhee or Master Chong
Yoon Rhee would also be acceptable.
4) When did Master Rhee move to Australia and form Rhee Taekwondo.

This question is not an attempt at invalidating any of the claims. I
have no doubt that the ones in the promotional material are true. I'm
a Taekwondo student interested in the history of the art and have been
unable to track down any other information on Master Rhee apart from
promotional material and would like to fill in the gaps.

[1] http://www.rheetkd.co.nz

Other sites I've tried are:

  http://www.rheetaekwondo.com

HI there.

I've only come up with a few newspaper references and another document
on taekwondo history which provide some information on your questions
#1 and #4.  Perhaps you should withdraw the $100 question, and repost
for a more modest sum, in line with the modest information that is
available.

I found these pictures, not sure what they're of.

http://www.users.tsn.cc/brawnbm/Pictures/rhee.html

Mr. Chong Chul Rhee, founder of Taekwondo in Australia. The Master
Instructor for Australia and New Zealand, he is also the President of
the Taekwondo Instructors’ Federation of Australia and New Zealand.


Mr. Rhee acquired vast international experience before moving to
Australia. He was leading instructor of the Korean Marines, Police
Force, students at universities and colleges, and members of the
public. Mr. Rhee developed and taught special unarmed combat methods
to the Marine Commandos, the elite Commandos underwater demolition
team, Marine Brigade Headquarters, and Marine 2nd Infantry Divisions.
(The Korean Marines earned a reputation as the world’s most feared and
courageous troops. Nicknamed “The Demon Hunter Marines”, they were
easily recognisable on the battlefields and were the most disciplined,
daring and highly efficient elite of the armed forces.)

Mr. Chong Chul Rhee then spent some years in South East Asia -
including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Brunei and other
countries - spreading the art of Taekwondo. Taekwondo is booming in
these countries and many thousands of students are reaping the
benefits of Mr. Rhee’s dedication to the Art.


Since introducing the Art of Taekwondo in Australia, Mr. Chong Chul
Rhee has led hundreds of demonstrations throughout the nation. He has
demonstrated the Art at universities, colleges, Air Force bases, Army
and Police academies, and to the public. He has been featured in
countless newspaper and magazine articles and brought the spectacular
Art of Rhee Taekwondo to millions of television viewers.


Through unending hard work and perseverance Mr. Rhee has established a
very strong foundation for the Art of Rhee Taekwondo with the
assistance of a massive network of black belt instructors. Mr. Rhee’s
wealth of technical and teaching experience and highly skilled
technique have contributed substantially to Rhee Taekwondo’s dynamic
expansion throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Referance: http://www.rheetkd.co.nz/whoismasterrhee/default.htm

.
I did not find many sites that mentioned Master Chong Chul Rhee, but
here's what I found.

=====

COMMENTS: As a student of Taekwondo, you'll probably love this site,
even though it's not devoted to just that particular martial art.  I
only found General Choi Hong Hi mentioned here, though, and someone
named Jhoon Rhee.

QUOTED FROM WEB SITE:

A Chronological History of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports
1940-now (rev01/02)
Copyright © 2000-2002 Joseph R. Svinth All rights reserved

FURTHER DOWN:

A signals officer named Nam Tae Hi establishes a Shotokan karate club
called Oh Do Kwan at a Korean Army base at Yong Dae Ri. In 1955,
during a demonstration for the South Korean President Rhee Seung Man,
Nam broke thirteen roofing tiles with a single blow. This so impressed
Rhee that he told Colonel Choi Hong Hi, who was Nam’s commander and an
honorary 4-dan, to start a training program for the entire Korean
military. As Nam always insisted that trainees shout "Tae Kwon!"
("Fists and Feet!"), his karate style soon became known popularly as
taekwondo, or the Way of Fists and Feet.

AND FURTHER DOWN:

A group of Korean military officers and businessmen decide that
taesoodo and Tang Soo Do are insufficiently patriotic names for the
karate styles practiced in Korea, and therefore decree that in future
all Korean styles should be called taekwondo. Toward this end,
probably ahistorical links were therefore made between the popular
name of the military style and a nineteenth century Korean kicking
game called taekkyon, and by 1966 taekwondo had become the Korean
standard. Why? "Because I was a ROK Army general," explained General
Choi Hong Hi, an honorary 6-dan in the style.

URL: http://ejmas.com/kronos/NewHist1940.htm

=====

COMMENTS: This site has an older version of the previous Kronos
document (rev 01/00), and there appear to be several differences, so
you might want to check it out too.

QUOTED FROM WEB SITE:

After seeing a soldier named Nam Tae-hi break thirteen roofing tiles
with a single blow, South Korean President Syngman Rhee orders Korean
special forces soldiers to receive training in kongsudo, which was the
Korean name for Japanese karate. The officer tasked with overseeing
the training was a colonel named Choi Hong-hi. So, with Nam as his
right-hand man, the following year Choi established a military karate
school called the Odokwan. This represents the beginnings of modern
taekwondo.

AND FURTHER DOWN:

Following a military coup in South Korea, Martial Law Number Six
orders the karate-like South Korean martial art schools known as the
Chung Do Kwan, Chang Moo Kwan, Song Moo Kwon, Moo Duk Kwan, and Chi Do
Kwan to organize themselves into a unified system called tae soo do,
and further orders that this new system be taught to all South Korean
soldiers as part of their physical fitness training. Leaders from the
Moo Duk Kwan and the Chi Do Kwan disagreed with the new system’s
promotional policies, and resisted the consolidation as best they
could. The government steamrollered the opposition, and in 1965 the
association was firmly in place under its new name of Korea Tae
Kwon-Do Association (KTA). (Taekwondo means "the Way of Fists and
Feet." The name was created, perhaps by General Choi Hong-hi around
1962, apparently because it sounded a lot like the old name tae kyon.)

URL: http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/ejmas/kronos/2000/NewHist1940.htm

=====

COMMENTS: This is a Finnish site that seems to deal with material from
"The History Of TaeKwonDo Patterns" by Richard L. Mitchell. It only
mentions General Choi Hong-Hi.

QUOTED FROM WEB SITE:

The pattern Dan-Gun consists of 21 movements. General Choi Hong-Hi,
Master of the International Taekwon-Do Federation and Father of
Taekwon-Do, states in his book "The Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do that
the pattern Dan-Gun "is named after the holy Dan-Gun, the legendary
founder of Korea in the year 2333 B.C."

URL: http://www.micasolutions.fi/sami/uutiset/data/1011220921.shtml

=====

COMMENTS: Again, only Jhoon Rhee and Choi Hong Hi are mentioned.

QUOTED FROM WEB SITE: 

A Chronological History of the Martial Arts and Combative Sports
1900-1939 (rev 01/01)

AND FURTHER DOWN:

A nineteen-year old Korean man named Lee Won Kuk goes to Japan to
study. Later, while a law student at Chuo University, Lee studied
karate under Funakoshi Gichin, and in 1944 Lee began teaching Shotokan
karate in Seoul, where his students included Jhoon Rhee and Choi Hong
Hi. Other taekwondo pioneers who trained in Shotokan during the 1930s
and early 1940s included Chun Sang Sup and Ro Byung Jick. The equally
redoubtable Yoon Byung In meanwhile trained in the Shudokan of Toyama
Kanken.

URL: http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/ejmas/kronos/2001/03-01/NewHist1900-1939.htm

=====

COMMENTS: This site mentions Rhee's move to Australia.

QUOTED FROM WEB SITE: 

However, the first major impact could be said to be the migration of
Master Chong Chul Rhee to Australia in the mid-1960s (Master Rhee
later brought his brothers to Australia to help run his national chain
of Do Jang).  The Rhee Tae Kwon Do schools are now one of Australia's
biggest Martial Arts "chains", with many thousands of members in
hundreds of locations.

URL: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/9803/bfdhisty.doc

=====

COMMENTS: This is one site that's not one of your typical Taekwondo
sites that mentions the teaching of troops in Korea, but says nothing
about the Marines.

QUOTED FROM WEB SITE: 

Chong Chul Rhee has travelled the world teaching martial arts and is
considered a tae kwon do master.

The seemingly ageless exponent has even taught hand-to-hand combat to
troops both in his native Korea and the United States.

URL: http://www.illnews.com.au/today/2060601.htm

=====

COMMENTS: There was one site (mentioned by one of the people who
commented on this query) that had one or more pictures of him, but it
seems to be offline now.

URL: www.users.tsn.cc/brawnbm/Pictures/rhee.html

=====

Hope this helped somewhat in answering your question.  Good luck!

TexasT

Hi,

The Rhee who was a student of Gen. Choi is Jhoon Goo Rhee, the father
of American Taekwondo. See
http://www.indiana.edu/~iutkd/history/tkdhist.html. There doesn't ssem
to be much biographical data on Chong Chul Rhee. Good luck with your
search.

Regards,

bc-guide

Mr Chong Chul Rhee, is the founder of Taekwondo in Australia. The
Master Instructer and Chief Instructer for Australia and New Zealand,
he is also president of the Taekwondo Instructers' Federation of
Australia and New Zealand.
Mr Rhee acquired cast international experiance before coming to
Australasia. He was a leading instructer to the korean marines, police
force, students at universities and colleges and members of the
public. Mr Rhee developed and taught special unarmed combat methods to
marine commandoes' underwater demolition team, marine brigade
headquarters and marine 2nd infantry divisions. (the Korean marines
earned a reputation as the worlds most feared and courages troops.)
Mr Chong Chul Rhee then spent some years in South East Asia -
including Malaysia, Singapore, HongKong, Indonesia, Brunei and other
countries - spreading the art of Taekwondo. Taekwondo is booming in
these countries todayand many thousands of students are reaping the
benifits of mr rhee's dedication to the art.
since introducing the art of Taekwondo to Australia and New Zealand,
Mr Rhee has lead hundreds of demonstrations of the art at
universities, colleges, airforce bases, army and police acadimies and
to the public. he has been featured in countless newspaper and
magazines articles and brought the spectacular art of Rhee Taekwondo
to millions of television viewers.
Through the unending hard work and perserverance Mr Rhee has
established a very strong foundation for the art of Rhee Taekwondo
with the assistance of a massive network of black belt assistant
instructers. Mr Rhee's wealth of technical and teaching experiance and
highly skilled technique have contributed substantially to Rhee
Taekwondo's dynamic expansion throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Lambda,
Here is a contact to a fellow Korean Taekwondo student (5 dan black
belt) who has studied Taekwondo for years in Korea and eventually
internationally.  He has access to detailed information for many
Taekwondo masters around the world and I am certain he has the
information you are looking for (and more) about Master Rhee.  He
speaks fluent English and Korean so he is able to translate the Korean
periodicals that he has collected for further information.

The contact you are looking for is:    lee_damian@hotmail.com
Good luck!