Celebrating liberation in Mt. Jiri, Cho Nam-chul contemplated the direction his career should take. "Why can't we be better off than Japan?" he asked himself. He concluded "It is because Korea lacks experts in each area." "So" he has said, "I made up my mind to repay my country through becoming an expert in Baduk."
Cho Nam-chul founded the Hansung Baduk Association, predecessor to the Korean Baduk Association, in November 1945 in Namsan-dong, Seoul. It was not an easy beginning. Among the many difficulties was that of moving 16 times between the time the Hansung Baduk Association was founded and the time of its evolution into the Korean Baduk Association. The history of this evolution is the real history of modern Baduk itself.

Though he did not personally teach them, Cho Nam-chul is responsible for the training of his cousins, professionals Cho Chi-hoon and Cho Sang-yeon, and of his grandsons Choi Kyu-byung and Lee Sung-jae. It was also through his friendship and efforts on their behalf that Kim In and Seo Bong-soo became two of the world's best Baduk players.
Although Cho Nam-chul is not usually called the "Godfather of Korean Baduk," he is a truly outstanding representative of Korean Baduk who well deserves that title.
When the Chinese Baduk genius Wu Qingyuan 9-dan visited Pusan, he commented on Cho Nam-chul's enormous contribution to Korean Baduk and the recognition Cho Nam-chul richly deserved. Wu Qingyuan (who remained in Japan after his studies there), remarked that he felt sorry that he himself had not followed Cho Nam-chul's example and returned to develop his home country into a strong Baduk nation. Wu Qingyuan said that it is largely because Cho Nam-chul chose to return home to concentrate on spreading Baduk in Korea that Korea has become the world's strongest Baduk nation.