Park was born in Chūseinan-dō, Korea, Empire of Japan in 1941.[4] He trained in taekwondo under Choi Hong-hi.[5] In 1965, he was invited to be the coach of the German Taekwon-Do Association, and moved from South Korea to West Germany.[4] Park was ranked 5th dan that year.[6] The following year, he moved to the Netherlands and founded the Netherlands Taekwon-Do Association.[4] Through the late 1960s and 1970s, Park was a key member of the taekwondo demonstration teams that accompanied Choi around the world.[7]
Canada
In 1968, Park settled in Toronto, Canada.[4] In 1973, he held the rank of 7th dan.[8] In 1974, Park and several other ITF masters demonstrated taekwondo in Toronto—then being promoted as "the new home of the ITF" by Choi.[9] Park and Choi went their separate ways after Choi insisted on establishing relations with North Korea during a politically sensitive period.[10] By 2002, however, they were reconciled, and Park was present at Choi's deathbed.[10]
In 2004, Park was President of the Canadian Taekwon-Do Association, and presented a seminar in Afghanistan.[11] In 2008, Park conducted a seminar in Beijing.[12] He headed taekwondo schools in Toronto.[13]
Park is listed as a pioneer in Canada (1950s, 1960s, and 1970s) in Choi Chang-keun's list of taekwondo pioneers.[14]
^Choi, H. H. (1972): Taekwon-Do: The Korean art of self-defence. Mississauga: International Taekwon-Do Federation.
^Park, S. H. (1993): "About the author." In H. H. Choi: Taekwon-Do: The Korean art of self-defence, 3rd ed. (Vol. 1, pp. 241–274). Mississauga: International Taekwon-Do Federation.
^Fruet, William (28 September 1979), Search and Destroy (Action, Drama, Thriller), Perry King, Don Stroud, Tisa Farrow, Barry & Enright Productions, Film Ventures International (FVI), Montoro Productions Ltd., retrieved 9 August 2024
^Stern, Steven Hilliard (6 October 1985), The Park Is Mine (Action, Drama, Thriller), Tommy Lee Jones, Helen Shaver, Yaphet Kotto, HBO Premiere Films, International Cinema, Ramble Film Productions, retrieved 9 August 2024
^Seeing Things (Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery), Louis Del Grande, Janet-Laine Green, Martha Gibson, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), 15 September 1981, retrieved 9 August 2024{{citation}}: CS1 maint: others (link)