Owner and Master Instructor
Master Sanghee Kim.
Kukkiwon 6th Dan. A degree in taekwondo from Kyung Hee University. Korean national champion. Head instructor of his own schools since 2010 — and, from 2026, of Nova Taekwondo in Dartmouth.
Master Kim started taekwondo in the fourth grade, in the 1990s, and trained as a taekwondo specialist through middle school, high school and university in Korea. He competed nationally until 2009 — first at the National Championships in 2000 and 2002, and first at the National Excellence Player Selection in 2007.
He studied taekwondo at Kyung Hee University, graduating in 2007. After university he went to the United States and ran a taekwondo school in Chicago for about two years.
In 2012 he returned to Korea and took over an academy in Ulsan with about thirty students. He ran it for thirteen years; by early 2025 it had about three hundred students, and it had received the Korea Best Studio Award and the KCIA Korea Consumer Industry Appraisal Excellence Award, both in 2023. Alongside the technical curriculum he ran a character-education theme every two months — gratitude, respect for parents — and kept in direct contact with parents about how their children were doing. He was featured in Post21 magazine in February 2025.
He left the academy in 2025 and moved to Nova Scotia. Nova Taekwondo is his first school in Canada.
Rank and training
Also certified: Level 3 Sport for All Instructor, Tae Bo Instructor, Recreation Instructor, Sports Massage, Jump Rope Instructor.
The record.
- Bachelor’s degree in Taekwondo, Kyung Hee University2004–07
- Kukkiwon 6th Dan black beltCertified
- Hapkido 4th Dan black beltCertified
- Taekwondo and Hapkido Master Instructor licencesCertified
- First place, Korean National Championships2000 · 2002
- First place, National Excellence Player Selection2007
- Sparring and poomsae instructor, WTF–KHU Partnership Training Program2009–10
- Ran a taekwondo school in Chicago2010–12
- Owner and head instructor of his own academy, Ulsan2012–25
- Subcommittee Chairman, World Taekwondo Culture Expo2013
- Coached gold medallists — Korean Ambassador’s Cup, Ansan Cup International Open, Kimunyong Cup International Open2019 · 2023 · 2024
- Top Studio for Producing Black Belts in Korea2021
- Top dojang in Ulsan for black belts produced2022
- Korea Best Studio Award2023
- KCIA Korea Consumer Industry Appraisal Excellence Award2023
- Featured in Post21 magazine2025
His previous school.
Master Kim ran his own academy in Ulsan, South Korea, from 2012 to 2025. These photographs are from that school.
