Dai-won Moon

Dai-won Moon (1942 or 1943 – 16 May 2026) was a South Korean-born Mexican martial artist. He was known as the Father of Mexican Taekwondo for introducing taekwondo to Mexico in 1969. Since then, taekwondo has become a popular sport in Mexico, with over 1.5 million taekwondo practitioners and 3,500 schools throughout the country.

Life and career Moon was born in the small village of Duk Hap, south of Seoul. His father, Chang Wook Moon worked in the administration of President Syngman Rhee. He became a black belt at the age of 16.

He graduated from Texas Tech University with a degree in architecture and originally had plans to settle in the United States. He competed in various American martial arts tournaments between 1963 and 1968. On 22 May 1969, he arrived with intentions to stay and lived in the country since then. In 1975 he became a naturalized Mexican citizen. He later had four Mexican-born children.

In Mexico he established Moo Duk Kwan, a school to "make Mexican taekwondo one of the strongest in the world". From 1973, when the World Taekwondo Championships began, Mexico was represented by Moon's school. Until the sixth World Championship, in Copenhagen in 1983, he personally took, trained and bankrolled the Mexican athletes.

The association of Moo Duk Kwan schools numbers around 350.