A top martial arts master, retired FBI agent, and former West Seattle High Point resident, Chin Ho Lee, visited Alki Taekwondo Friday, March 12, to observe demonstrations and speak to students and parents, and reunite with the instructor there.

The instructor, black belt master Stephen Coates, is a former pupil of Lee, from 1973 to 1983. Coates’ school is in the basement of the Alki Congregational United Church of Christ, Alki 6115 Southwest Hinds Street. When Lee lived in High Point, he attended UW. He opened a small school there, Lee’s Taekwando, in 1965, and also taught judo and aikido. He moved into a bigger space where the Senior Center of West Seattle now is, and again to a spot across the street from the post office on California Avenue.

At the table of observers, Korean-born Lee, now in his 70’s, sat between Coates’ father, Jack, and Cheryl Snyder who operates Alki Kid’s Place, a daycare center across the hall from Coates’ classroom. Some of Snyder’s pupils attend Coates’ class. Students demonstrated kicks, jumps, and one student split a heavy-duty block of cement with his bare hand. Lee then spoke and said he was encouraged by what he saw.

“If you quit you get only taste, but if you go to black belt you have got something in your head and heart, something that can last for your whole life,” he said. “I can accomplish all I want, and I am a small, simple guy. You can achieve your goal too. In marshal arts, skill is the second thing, mental is first.”

While he may think of himself in those humble terms, his background may seem bigger than life. After earning his Masters Degree in international business at UW, Chin Ho Lee was appointed as Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Lee was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent rank and instructed at the FBI Academy. He was a SWAT and Delta Force instructor, and assisted the South Korean Government to prepare for the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. He organized security for the United States Government for the Salt Lake City Olympic games, and work with China for their Beijing Olympics. He has served as an executive for Hyundai and other corporations.

“Everybody at the FBI called me ‘Ho Chi Minh,’” he said with a broad grin, referring to the former president of North Vietnam. Lee taught taikwando to interested FBI agents during their free time.

Lee said that through his martial arts he has “come to a mutual understanding” with Mormons he has met while working in Salt Lake City, and with Muslims in Indonesia and Malaysia.

The discipline also helped Lee reach an understanding with neighborhood toughs in the rough-and-tumble days of High Point.
“I came here (to High Point) at a time when not many foreigners looked like me (…) an ‘oriental guy.’ It was a very tough neighborhood, but I got really good friendships with them, and got lots of students at the same time. It used to be very violent. If I had known, maybe at the time I would have picked other places to live, but I was committed. I had to survive.”

And speaking of violence, Lee said he disapproves of the sport ultimate fighting, which combines boxing with fighting and wrestling in a ring.

“Beating up each other on TV, I don’t think it helps children’s mental health,” he said.