Robert Frankovich
World Song Moo Kwan United 8th Dan
Legacy
Joon Pyo Choi
Karate North 3rd Dan
3rd Generation
Tom Sullivan
In 1981, he found the opportunity to train in Taekwondo through the Karate North organization as part of Hibbing MN’s Community Education program and has continued his training since. When he moved to Superior, WI to complete his bachelor’s degree, he trained with the UW-Superior Karate North classes. His teaching started when Master Tom Sullivan asked him to the UM-Duluth Summer class in 1986. His training continued at UW-Superior and he started offering classes through community education in Superior and Duluth.
In 1990, he changed his school name to Pine Tree Taekwondo, which has been re-branded to Song Moo Kwan Pan Song Ryu in 2020, to reflect the more traditional aspect that his teaching had developed toward. This is a result of his search for what Song Moo Kwan was. The first of his articles about Song Moo Kwan, an original school of Taekwondo, was published in 1994. He remained with the Karate North and earned the rank of 3rd Dan until 1996, when an opportunity was given to him to help build a new Song Moo Kwan Taekwondo organization. This new organization, in its original version, failed and he returned to Minnesota in late 1997.
He began training at the North American Taekwondo Federation with Grandmaster Ro, Hee Sang, son of the Song Moo Kwan founder, and was promoted to 4th Dan before leaving the organization due to financial disagreements. In 2002, he contacted the American Song Moo Kwan Association, which had re-established itself after the initial attempt in 1996. He trained with their curriculum and was promoted to 5th Dan in August 2003. (View breaking demo from this test here). This was shortly before Master James Wohlwend took formal leadership of the organization.
Since then, Robert has been working to collect information about Song Moo Kwan, its Masters and Grand Masters and the stories from the leaders. Toward this goal, he developed the International Song Moo Kwan Association (ISMKA) as a place to collect the names, stories and those who have lost their instructors or schools but do not want to lose their connection to Song Moo Kwan. Through the Masters working with the ISMKA, he was promoted to 6th Dan in 2009. The ISMKA has been put aside and the work done moved to the World Song Moo Kwan United organization to benefit the growth of Song Moo Kwan under the leadership of SGM Joon Choi.
Taekwondo Training:
1981 to 1996…..Karate North Taekwondo (Northern Taekwondo Assoc., Tom Sullivan, Chief Instructor).
12/1988…..Certified 1st Dan Black Belt through the Northern Taekwondo Association – Karate North under Tom Sullivan, Chief Instructor.
12/1990…..Certified 2nd Dan Black Belt through the Northern Taekwondo Association – Karate North under Tom Sullivan, Chief Instructor.
4/1992…..Certified Kukkiwon 1st Dan Black Belt through Grandmaster Hee Sang Ro.
11/1993…..Certified 3rd Dan Black Belt through the Northern Taekwondo Association – Karate North under Tom Sullivan, Chief Instructor.
10/1998…..Certified Fourth Dan Black Belt through the North American Taekwondo Federation & World Song Moo Kwan Association under Grandmaster Hee Sang Ro.
5/1999…..Certified Kukkiwon 2nd Dan Black Belt under Grandmaster Hee Sang Ro.
6/2000…..Certified 4th Dan Black Belt through Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Taekwondo.
8/2002…..Certified 4th Dan Black Belt through American Song Moo Kwan Association.
8/2003…..Certified 5th Dan Master Black Belt through the American Song Moo Kwan Association.
1/2009…..Certified 6th Dan Master Black Belt through the International Song Moo Kwan Association.
9/2013…..Certified Kukkiwon 4th Dan Black Belt
5/2017…..Certified 7th Dan Senior Master through World Song Moo Kwan United under SGM Joon Pyo Choi.
10/2021…Certified 8th Dan Grand Master through World Song Moo Kwan United under SGM Joon Pyo Choi.
Taekwondo Teaching:
Summer 1986…..University of Minnesota – Duluth Karate North Summer Session
9/1986 to 6/1989…..Karate North classes for Duluth Community Education
9/1988 to 6/1989…..Karate North class at the Supreme Courts Health and Fitness Club in Superior, WI
1/1990 to 5/1994…..Pine Tree Taekwondo classes for Duluth Community Education
6/1994 to 2/1996…..Pine Tree Taekwondo class at Boys and Girls Club of Duluth
2/1996 to 11/1997…..Taught classes as part of American Championship Taekwondo, an American Song Moo Kwan Association school in Orem, UT
11/1997 to 5/2015…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Hamline University club & PE dept.) Hamline University, St. Paul, MN
9/1998 to 6/2004…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Brooklyn Center Recreation Department) Brooklyn Center, MN
2/1999 to 8/2002…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Community Education) St. Paul Public Schools, St. Paul, MN
2/2000 to 6/2004…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (St. Olaf College Club) St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN
9/2002 to 5/2005…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Community Education) Robbinsdale Public Schools, Robbinsdale, MN
6/2004 to 1/2010…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Sparrow Institute) New Hope, MN.
9/2007 to 8/2008…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Community Education) Northfield Public Schools Northfield, MN
1/2009 to 9/2013…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (Community Education) Braham Area Schools
2/2009 to 12/2020…..Pine Tree Taekwondo (White Tiger Martial Arts) – Twin Cities dojang (Fridley, MN)
2/2009 to 12/2018…..Pine Tree Taekwondo East Central dojang (Isanti, MN)
2/2021 to Current…..Rebranded Pine Tree Taekwondo as Song Moo Kwan Pan Song Ryu, a White Tiger Martial Arts (Fridley, MN) program
August 1994 – Black Belt Magazine published The Forgotten Forms of Taekwondo, the first ever article regarding the Chung Bong hyungs (forms) that are unique to Taekwondo Song Moo Kwan that I authored.
Inside Taekwondo(published in the December 1994 issue) accepted an article The History and Traditions of Taekwondo Song Moo Kwan which includes some of the first information ever supplied by Grandmaster Byung Jick Ro, the founder of Song Moo Kwan. It is the first article to be published about Song Moo Kwan history and provides new information to clarify the origins of Song Moo Kwan as well as Taekwondo itself.
TaeKwonDo Times article printed in 1997. This was a re-worked version of the Forgotten Forms of Taekwondo article published in Black Belt in 1994.
Inside Kung Fu Magazine published the “Ultimate Guide To Taekwondo” which featured a re-print of The History and Traditions of Taekwondo Song Moo Kwan article that had been originally printed in their sister magazine Inside Taekwondo.
Totally Taekwondo Magazine published Secret Applications Within Song Moo Kwan’s Hyungs in the January 2016, Issue 83 publishing.
Had the article “Effective and Efficient” published in Totally TKD magazine August 2018 Issue 114.
Had the article “Inside The Legacy: A Deeper Look Into Song Moo Kwan’s Chung Bong Hyung” published in Totally TKD July 2020 edition.
Published the Complete Chung Bong Hyungs: Song Moo Kwan Pan Song Ryu (June 2021). The book includes basic techniques and those used within the hyungs. The first publication to include all seven hyungs!