Grandmaster Sung Soo Lee was the first man in the world to be promoted to the rank of 9th Dan in both Hapkido and Taekwondo.  These ranks are held with the Korea Hapkido Federation and the World Taekwondo Federation.  These are just two of his many achievements.

  Grandmaster Lee has excelled not only in martial arts but also in sports journalism.  He wrote for the Orient Press from 1963 to 1973.  Journalism is not a career which attracts a great deal of respect from many people; however, Grandmaster Lee has always conducted himself with courtesy, honesty and kindness both in and out of the dojang.

  Sung Soo Lee began his study of martial arts when he was just 11 years old, under the tuition of his grandfather who taught him Ju-Jitsu.

  At the age of 17 he began studying Taekwondo Ji Do Kwan under Professor Yoon Kwe Byun in Seoul in 1953.  In 1993 Master Lee was awarde his 9th Dan in Taekwondo.  His first encounter with Hapkido was in the Korean aremy in 1960.  Here he met a soldier who taught him Yawara, later to be known as Hapkido.  He was awarded his 9th Dan in Hapkido in 1996.

  In the UK the development of Grandmaster Lee's Hapkido is in the hands of his most senior student, Grandmaster Sam Plumb.