8th Dan – Pin # 8015

Grandmaster Nam, 8th Dan joined a local club in Korea in 1959 at age six and began the study of Tang Soo Do under Master Young Y. Min and Master Ki Yun Yi that lasted approximately 18 years.

He achieved black belt when he was nine years old and began teaching as an assistant instructor at age thirteen. He was also the Korean Air Force Champion from 1969 to 1972.

In 1979 he received his 5th Dan from Grandmaster Hwang Kee and in 1884, his 6th Dan from Grandmaster Jae C. Shin of the World Tang Soo Do Association. In July of 1999, he received his 8th Dan from Grandmaster Song Ki Kim, founder of the World Dang Soo Do Union.

He was a past Treasurer of the U.S. Moo Duk Kwan Federation and a former World Tang Soo Do Association Testing Committee Chairman. He appeared on the 1993 cover of Tae Kwon Do Times, a magazine for which he also served as a Special Correspondent. In that issue’s article, Grandmaster Nam stated that one of his fondest memories was having Tang Soo Do’s founder, Grandmaster Hwang Kee, officiate at his wedding in 1977.

That same year he emigrated to the U.S. at the request of Grandmaster Ki Yun Yi, his brother-in-law and the founder of the International Martial Arts Association.

He settled in New Jersey and then later moved to Pittsburgh, PA where in 1979 he opened Nam’s Korean Karate.

Grandmaster Nam is the co-founder and current Chairman of the Pan-Am Tang Soo Do Federation.