Ever heard of Tukong Moosul??
Jobe Smith
I have been studying a martial art here in Austin for the past
six years called Tukong Moosul. The art is of Korean origen,
and was brought to Austin by Master Wonik Yi. I have reason to
question certain aspects of things Master Yi said when he was
here about the developement and background of this art.
Has anyone heard of this art before? Any rumors or opinions
would be appreciated. Master Yi has claimed that the South
Korean Special Forces are trained in Tukong Moosul. Is anyone
out there capable of commenting on that?
For those who are curious, the art itself has lots of techniques,
some borrowed from Tae Kwon Do. Advanced Tukong is mostly
Chinese including many different weapons. The entire focus is
on combat effectiveness. It has been very enjoyable to practice.
A soft style of "Korean Tai Chi" is taught with the hard style.
There are now schools in Dallas, Odessa, and Austin. I beleive
there is also a small school in Seattle.
Thanks in advance,
:jobe
Peter Biddle
<snip>
> As I posted already, "moosul" is a rather generic term and is not specific
> to any style. There's no reason to believe that two schools are connected
> simply because both have "moosul" in their name.
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Mary Malmros | Cayman Systems Inc, 26 Landsdowne St, Cambridge, MA 02139
> ma...@cayman.com | Phone 617-494-1999 Fax 617-494-5167 AppleLink CAYMAN.TECH
>
You are absolutley right--however, I asked my friend about this, and he said
that his teacher had recently been visiting schools in TX. This was enough
of a coincdence for me. That, and the bit about the ROC Marines--I
heard that boast from up here as well.
Michael Peter
Tukong Moosul is a bunch of baloney. "Master" Yi is a joker. So you've
actually seen him?
Master Yi used to attend the martial arts school I go to (this was long before I
ever got there). He discovered that money could be made teaching martial arts,
and decided to create a reputation for himself. He started saying that he used to
be a captain in the Korean Special Forces, until a *real* captain came over to
visit the school and started asking him when and what unit, and basically caught him
in the lie. He did a couple of other things also, and was eventually kicked out
of the school. When he came back to threaten the head instructor, the instructor called his bluff. Yi hastily backed out and left. He never returned, but later
started opening up "Tukong" or "Tukong Moosul" schools (I'm not sure, but I think the
name of the art changed when he was sued, so he could open more schools that would
not be associated with the pre-lawsuit schools), and saying how everyone in Korea was
learning Tukong.
Yeah.
There's no such thing as Tukong in Korea. The Korean Special Forces, in fact all
Korean military units, are trained in Taekwondo.
Anyway, he started charging huge fees and making students pay in advance. One
day he skipped town with all the money and left his instructors holding the bag. Needless to say, the students were not happy and filed lawsuits. Yi never showed up
to respond to the claims and now if he even sets foot in Austin he is to be immediately
arrested and thrown in jail.
I used to listen to the instructors who were around when Yi attended my school tell
stories about him and laugh. It seems he tended to get beat up a lot in sparring.
So what it boils down to is that you are being taken for a ride. You are correct in
doubting his claims. I can get you more info if you wish. This is just what I
recall off the top of my head.
later,
Mike
csci...@cl2.cl.uh.edu
>
>Tukong Moosul is a bunch of baloney. "Master" Yi is a joker. So you've
>actually seen him?
>day he skipped town with all the money and left his instructors holding the bag. Needless to say, the students were not happy and filed lawsuits. Yi never showed up
>to respond to the claims and now if he even sets foot in Austin he is to be immediately
>arrested and thrown in jail.
>
>Mike
>
This is all very interesting. Could you post some more?
You mean he can only be interested in Austin. Can't the authorities just
deport him to Austin?
No flame intended to the person taking tukong moosul.
--
musalat
Michael Peter
>
> This is all very interesting. Could you post some more?
>
> You mean he can only be interested in Austin. Can't the authorities just
> deport him to Austin?
>
> No flame intended to the person taking tukong moosul.
>
> --
> musalat
>
Well, first of all they have to find him....Seriously, someone else e-mailed me
and said that he had been arrested in Korea and was awaiting extradition to the
U.S.
Okay. I talked to some of the guys at my school to clarify some
details, and here is the complete story:
Yi came over to the US and was in part helped by Dr. Daeshik Kim. He
then began attending Dr. Kim's school here in Austin. Yi and the
head instructor became friends, and everything was fine. Then apparently
Yi discovered that one could make money teaching martial arts. So
he began telling people that he had been a captain in the Korean Special
Forces (a pretty bad-ass bunch of dudes. If you ever get a chance to
look at a tape of them in action, do it) in order to bolster his reputation.
Unfortunately for Yi, just about every Korean in the U.S. and most of
the Koreans in Korea (who are martial artists) are Dr. Kim's junior, or
a junior of Dr. Kim's junior. So lots of Koreans who come to the US come
to pay their respects to Dr. Kim. One of the such guy was a man named Kwan,
who happened to be a *captain* in the *Korean Special Forces*. Well,
Kwan heard about Yi and what he was saying and basically went up to him
and said "I've never heard of you and neither has the Korean Special Forces".
Yi couldn't say anything because he was caught in the lie. So he left the
school.
Then he tried teaching TKD, and was saying that he had taught TKD at UT.
Actually, all the classes then were taught by Dr. Kim or the head
instructor. The head instructor then told those who called to check Yi's
references that no, Yi had never taught classes at UT. Yi then came
to the school to complain about the head instructor slandering his
reputation. The instructor told Yi that Yi was telling a pack of lies
and that he had better stop or face legal consequences. Yi then got
belligerent, and the head instructor asked Yi to take it outside. Yi
then got nervous and scared and left without another word.
Later on Yi started teaching Tukong Moosul at various schools around Austin.
Well, Tukong Moosul is not a martial art. Tukong was developed for elite
Korean military units to kill as quickly as possible. It is a system of
pressure point strikes and different locking techniques. I don't know
of anyone who teaches this outside of the Korean military. Of course Yi
wouldn't know Tukong because he has never *been* in the Korean military,
much less the Korean Special Forces (as he claims).
At one point Yi took a lot of money from his schools and skipped town,
leaving his students and his instructors hanging. Various lawsuits were
filed. Currently, if Yi sets foot in Austin, he will be slapped with a
subpoena and thrown in jail till his trial. I heard a rumor today that
he is in jail in Korea and is going to be extradited to the US (Austin),
though I can't verify the veracity of this report (it's not from one
of the instructors who was around when Yi was).
Most of this told by the head instructor who had the confrontation with
Yi, and from some other guys who were there. I would advise looking
around some more if you were impressed by Tukong Moosul. It's basically
ripped-off TKD techniques and not much more. You can get more complete
instruction elsewhere, and from schools with better reputations.
Thanks,
Mike