The Arts We Practice

Rather than bore students with details on birth dates and places, etc., I will attempt to paint a tiny picture of the Grandmasters' relationship to the arts and their students. Details of these accounts are based solely on my personal experiences with these men over the many years I studied with them. I will focus on the positive impact the founders had on their students and martial arts in general, and I will not address any shortcomings they might have had. This site is intended to provide useful information -- not gossip.

Master Rudy W. Timmerman

Grandmaster Pak congratulates Master Timmerman after a successful day at the North American Tae Kwon Do Championships in Toronto, Canada

Grandmaster Pak in shyuk:
In the 60's, before Grandmaster Pak became a Grandmaster, he operated Kuk Sool Won Hap Ki Do schools in Elliot Lake and Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. This is where many local martial artists such as: Steve St. Louis, Anthony Belsito, Ivan Bergeron, Normand Larocque, and myself received the bulk of our training. Together, these men trained thousands of students during their careers; therefore, Grandmaster Pak made a great contribution to martial arts in Canada, and Northern Ontario in particular. Some have stopped teaching, but at least three of these martial artists still continue to teach to this very day.

Always eager to improve his fortune, Grandmaster Pak moved to Toronto during the early 70's. This made it much more difficult for his Northern Ontario students to train on a regular basis. Distance and time made it nearly impossible for some. Nevertheless, I personally made the trip to Toronto on a regular basis to continue my training until Grandmaster Pak suddenly left the area without leaving a forwarding address.

After the Grandmaster moved to Toronto, Steve St. Louis was left in charge of the Sault Y.M.C.A. club, Master Bergeron was left in charge of the Elliot Lake school, Sabum Nim Larocque opened a school in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec and, with his brother Lucien and son Christian, he still operates this very successful school under the Kuk Sool Won banner, and I took to the road in order to quench my thirst for more knowledge. Master Bergeron still teaches in Elliot Lake and, after a brief stint with the World Kuk Sool Association, is now apparently a member of the World Dahn Mu Do group (also known as Kuk Sool Won Canada) based in Barrie, Ontario.

Steve St. Louis and Anthony Belsito both retired from active training, the Y.M.C.A. club is now run by my former student, Master Robert Doiron, and I personally still run the Timmerman's KJMS Inc. martial arts school in Sault Ste. Marie. In addition to this group of Grandmaster Pak's students, there are other students from the Toronto and Edmonton area who may still be active; however, since my training in Toronto was done on weekends, I was never able to establish a close relationship with these students.

I never stopped looking for Grandmaster Pak and, in 1984, when I received a tip from a student of mine (who used his connections with the Police force in which he was a member), I set off to Edmonton, Alberta to find him (the student, who supplied me with the tip, was unfortunately severely reprimanded by his superiors). After I arrived in Edmonton, I called every Korean sounding name in the Edmonton phone directory and, after what seemed an eternity of calling, I finally found a person who knew Grandmaster Pak. A meeting was arranged, and my search was finally over.

When I first saw the Grandmaster in the Greyhound Bus Station where we arranged to meet, he looked nothing like the successful martial artist I had last trained with. Nevertheless, I was extremely happy to see him. Grandmaster Pak suggested that I move from my simple hotel room to one of the most lavish hotels in Edmonton, and nothing I could say would change his mind about this change of living quarters. As he always did, the Grandmaster insisted on picking up the tab. Grandmaster Pak was an extremely generous person, to a fault.

Talking well into the night, the Grandmaster explained the reasons for his split with Grandmaster Suh in hyuk and his sudden departure from Toronto. I won't go into these details because they are of a rather personal nature, and it serves no purpose to reveal these facts here. The Grandmaster also explained how he lost sight of one of his eyes, and he playfully removed his prosthetic to show me how well he had coped with this disfiguring injury. It was here in Edmonton that Grandmaster Pak issued me with the certification I needed for a number of my students.

During the ensuing month of intensive training, I was able to glean much more of Grand Master Pak's incredible knowledge on Korean martial arts. During the evenings, whenever the antics of his young son allowed us to speak in peace, we spent many hours discussing the future of Kong Shin Bup™. In the end it was decided that I continue with the art in order to allow Grand Master Pak to fully concentrate his efforts on developing the new art of Tae Keuk Do he founded. GM Pak promoted me to 8th Dahn and entrusted me with the seals to the art. At GM Pak's urging, I duly registered Kong Shin Bup™ as a non-profit incorporation with the Canadian Government. Kong Shin Bup™ is a Canadian corporation owned by GM Rudy Timmerman. All rights to the name and logo are reserved.

It should be noted at this time that, even though he was busy with the founding of his new art "Tae Keuk Do", GM Pak continued to function as Grand Master of Kong Shin Bup™ until his untimely death in 1995. It would simply be against all martial art etiquette for me to assume the leadership to the art Grand Master Pak founded while he was still alive. Instead, I further explored the other side (Kuk Sool) of the roots of our art.

In 1989, Grand Master Pak convened a meeting with all of the students connected with his art. His aim was to establish a solid foundation for his new art -- Tae Keuk Do, and start a new school in Toronto. I did not stay for the entire meeting, as it mainly concerned those who wished to begin training in Tae Keuk Do. A number of local students, including some of my own, were excited to train with the Grand Master (whom many had never seen before), and this resulted in the establishment of several Tae Keuk Do schools in Ontario.

During this time, Grand Master Pak promoted a number of students to Master level in Kong Shin Bup™ however, I also observed that few of these Masters actually practice or teach the entire curriculum as it was taught to me by the late Grand Master. This is no doubt due to the fact that there simply was not enough time for these students to absorb the full curriculum. Their intentions were good, but time was simply lacking.

While I do not wish to discredit legitimate KSB practitioners, it certainly appears that certifications issued after 1989 may have been issued as an "honary" rank. One way to verify legitimate rank is to ask the Instructors for ALL of their certificates and/or check the dates to see if their age and/or advancement in rank appears plausible. You can then make up your own mind on the legitimacy of their claims.

Grand Master Pak's legacy is continued in the schools that practice his arts, and he can be justly proud of his accomplishments. No other Master has impacted the lives of so many Korean style martial artists in our region as Grand Master Pak In Shyuk. He was a superb technician, and his understanding of pressure points and joint locks were unequaled. IMHO, had Grand Master Pak not divided his attention between founding two arts, he would have been exceedingly successful. We miss him, but we continue his work regardless of which art we follow.

Grandmaster Suh at a Seminar at my home on St. Joseph Island, Canada Recognize anyone?

Grandmaster Suh in hyuk:
My relationship with Grandmaster Suh began in 1975 when, upon Grandmaster Pak's insistence, I traveled to San Francisco in order to attend the first Kuk Sool Won Seminar in the U.S. After first speaking to Grandmaster Suh (on the phone from Master Pak's Dojang in Toronto), I received permission from them to attend the seminar. The trip was on, and Sabum Nim Belsito accompanied me on the long drive. The seminar was an exciting event, and I met several key figures in the world of Kuk Sool. Master Barry Harmon, Sabum Nim Ken Duncan, and Instructor Barry Olsen were extremely helpful, and they made the occasion a very memorable one. As was Master Pak, Grandmaster Suh was an extremely generous and attentive host, and he took us on a lovely sightseeing trip of San Francisco.

The following picture was taken by me during the 1975 San Franscico Seminar on Van Ness Boulevard. The picture shows Instructor Ken Duncan working with Sabum Nim Anthony Belsito. Note the Ancient Fighting Arts patch on the Dobok of Sabum Nim Belsito. This clearly shows that Sabum Nim Belsito was, at one time, training with me. The patch also clearly shows the characters "Kong Shin". This is evidence that I already used the name back then

Upon completion of the seminar, I returned to Canada to continue my trainng with Grandmaster Pak; however, I had come away from the event with the unmistakable feeling that there was tension between the two Masters. I decided that this was none of my business, and kept the feeling to myself. Little did I know at the time that it would come to mean a great deal to me later on. As my training with Grandmaster Pak continued, I found out that a split had indeed occured between many of the old Masters of Kuk Sool Won Hap Ki Do; however, there was little I, or any other student could do about it. We just had to accept it as a fact of life.

As you might have read elsewhere in this site, Grandmaster Pak suddenly vanished, and his Instructors were left on their own. Unhappy to be without an Instructor, I went back to San Franscisco in 1985 to see if I could continue my training under the Grandmaster who had been a signator on my earlier certificates -- Grandmaster Suh in hyuk. Even though it was a long way from home, it would be nice to have an Instructor again. As bad luck would have it, Grandmaster Suh was on his seminar tour and not available. I had no choice but to relate our problems in Canada to Master Harmon. He promised to speak with Grandmaster Suh and as a result, in 1989, Grandmaster Suh appointed me to direct all WKSA business in Canada and the state of Michigan. I held the position of WKSA Director until my resignation in 1998.

Training with Grandmaster Suh (and his heir, Suh sung jin) was great, and his dedication to martial arts was truly appreciated by all my students who came to my house on St. Joseph Island to train (outside) from 6:00 am (Ki Training) to 8:00 pm. Grandmaster Suh' yearly Seminar Tour to St. Joseph's Island became legendary, and it was not unusual to have nearly a hundred practitioners camped in various places in my backyard. To many of my students (and to the Grandmaster) the seminar was like a holiday. After all, we worked and played hard at our beloved hobby -- martial arts. Those were great days! It was a good thing my home was situated on 3-1/2 acres with a swimming pool and a beautiful lake in front.

About the same time, Kuk Sool really took off in the U.K., and myself and several of my students went to England to do whatever we could to help with the annual U.K. seminar as well as organize their tournament etc. Kuk Sool was in its heyday, and new schools were popping up all over. Grandmaster Suh may have had a difficult time dealing with this sudden and immense growth, and the strain became more and more apparent. Instead of delegating some of the load to his Masters, he appeared to want to do it all by himself. I am sure that this was a frustrating time for several of his highest ranking Masters, and rumor had it that a split had occurred between Grandmaster Suh and his brother Seo in sun. The cracks began to appear.

Today, Grandmaster Suh still rules the WKSA; however, without some of his most loyal Masters, things are bound to get real tough sooner than later. Since Masters take a long time to produce, I can foresee a drastic change in the quality of Kuk Sool. No one man, hard as he might try, can run an organization of this size alone, and no one can trample on business ethics and the dignity of his most dedicated Masters without paying a penalty. Perhaps this explains why, of the over five hundred Masters Grandmaster Suh is reported to have trained, only a handfull train with him today.

Kuk Sool is a great martial art; however, as in any family, problems do occur. No one knows that better than the Black Belts and Masters of the Kuk Sool family. During my work with WKSA, I befriended the Grandmaster's eldest son, Suh sung jin -- the heir apparent to the throne of Kuk Sool. I fear that my friend will inherit a problem that is sure to give him many sleepless nights. Despite what happened between WKSA and myself, I sincerely wish them both the very best.