Upon his arrival to the United States in 1991, Master Seo opened The Dae Han Tae Kwon Do & Hap Ki Do Association School in Acworth, Georgia where he trained students over a 15 year period before moving to his current facility. Realizing his dreams of opening a larger school which could support additional programs, Master Seo continues educating students of martial arts in his facility now located in Kennesaw, Georgia. He finds his role as mentor extremely rewarding and encourages all of his students to reach further in their physical and mental training. Discipline and respect are necessary for anyone looking to master this art.
Master Seo’s aspirations go beyond his role as a teacher of Tae Kwon Do. He feels he can do more by giving back to the community and showing others the multi-faceted philosophies of this martial art. This drive to give back to the local community led to the creation of the Dae Han Tae Kwon Do Knights Demonstration Team. With the help of this remarkable team, Master Seo and his school are able to give back to the local community, while working to raise money for various charity groups. The school holds a yearly multi-cultural event to help raise money for organizations such as MUST Ministries and the Cystic Fibrosis association. Other metro-Atlanta businesses, such as Chick-Fil-A, Ikon, the Atlanta Hawks basketball organization, and Atlanta’s 95.5 the Beat have shown their support for the school and its many causes by donating food for the event, providing free printing of literature, providing entertainment, and offering the school free advertising time on the radio.
Master Seo is also well recognized and respected within the martial arts community. Grand Master Jhoon Rhee, the “Father of Tae Kwon Do in America”, has also shown his support for Master Seo and the Dae Han School by taking the time out of his busy schedule, which includes training over 300 government officials including members of Congress, to make appearances at various Dae Han demonstrations and charity events. Grand Master Jhoon Rhee is widely recognized as a martial arts instructor to the late Bruce Lee and has appeared in several of Bruce Lee’s films.
Additionally, Master Seo has received several community appreciation awards, including an award from the World Tae Kwon Do headquarters in Seoul, Korea for his community service. He has also been the recipient of several awards given by the local schools and local businesses in appreciation of his support and fund raising efforts. Master Seo and his demonstration team were featured on Community Window, a Public Access television program for the greater Atlanta area, which aired in November and will run through December. Master Seo has plans to continue his relationship with Community Window through the production of an educational series featuring the school. The purpose of the feature is to educate and explain the benefits and principles of martial arts training, specifically Tae Kwon Do.
In addition to his success as a martial arts instructor, Master Seo has competed in hundreds of international martial arts tournaments and was the gold medal recipient at the 1986 Kyung Buk Moo Sul Dae Hwyae, a regional martial arts tournament attracting world-champion participants from Korea, China, Japan, and other countries.