Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh

In Hyuk Suh is the founder, Grandmaster and
President of the World Kuk Sool Association®. He
has studied martial arts for more than 50 years,
receiving his first instruction from his grandfather,
Myung Deuk Suh, a master-instructor to the
Korean Royal Court. After his grandfather's
death, he traveled throughout the Far East
seeking out and studying additional aspects of
the martial arts.
The knowledge he acquired from his grandfather
and subsequent masters enabled him to establish
Kuk Sool Won™. His organization now boasts 1.3
million members with over 800 schools worldwide
in 27 different countries. Although expert in every
aspect of martial arts, Grandmaster Suh is
especially renowned for his mastery of pressure
point and joint manipulation.

Additionally, Kuk Sool Won™ has been
mentioned in over 300 articles and featured on
more than 60 front covers by world famous
magazines in the United States, England, Spain,
Iran, Germany, Mexico, and Venezuela. While the
following list of accomplishments include items
accrued not only by himself but by the
organizations he founded, the reason for this can
be found in the excerpt below, taken from the
“Letter from the Grandmaster” which is written to
all practitioners of Kuk Sool Won™ and located in
the front of the Textbooks he provided as an aid
to understanding such a unique and
comprehensive martial art.

1958
Founded the martial art of Kuk Sool Won™

1961
Founded the Korean Kuk Sool Association®

1972
Kuk Sool Won™ recorded in the World Athletic
Dictionary
as a traditional Korean martial art

1973
Kuk Sool Won™ School established in U.S.A.

1974
Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh emigrates to U.S.A.

1975
Founded the World Kuk Sool Association®

Kuk Sool Won™ School established in Great Britain

Kuk Sool Won™ School established in Canada

1976-77
40 Kuk Sool Masters appear in Ho Kuk Moo Yea,
(translation: Art Used in Defense of the Nation)
a documentary produced by the
Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism

1977
Kuk Sool Won™ school established in Venezuela

1978
Panama International Film Festival
bestows its Culture Award to Kuk Sool Won™
for its role in the documentary, Ho Kuk Moo Yea

Commenced annual seminars and special training in
U.S.A.

1982
Kuk Sool Won™ hosts First Open Tournament
at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco

1984
Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh voted “Man of the Year”
by Black Belt Magazine

Kuk Sool Won™ School established in Iran

1985
Publication of Kuk Sool Won™ handbooks,
textbooks, and instructional videos

1988
Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh voted “Instructor of the
Year”
by Inside Kung Fu Magazine

Commenced annual seminars and special training in
United Kingdom

1990
Kuk Sool Won™ hosts First Annual Canadian
Tournament

Commenced annual seminars and special training in
Canada

1991
Kuk Sool Won™ was selected as an extra curriculum
activity
for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Kuk Sool Won™ School established in Germany

25 U.S. cities now hold a “Kuk Sool Won™ Day”

1992
Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh is presented with the
Commander’s Sword
by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point

1993
Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh voted “Master of the Year”
by Tae Kwon Do Times Magazine

1994
Several universities in the U.S.A. include Kuk Sool
Won™
as a regular athletic activity

Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh is presented with the
Commander’s Sword
by the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs

1995
Kuk Sool Won™ hosts First Annual Tournament
at the U.S. Military Academy

1996
Kuk Sool Won™ School established in The
Netherlands

1998
Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh is awarded the SuhkRyoo
(Pomegranate) Medal
for Civil Merit by the South Korean Government

Commenced annual seminars and special training in
Europe

1999
Kuk Sool Won™ School established in Spain

Victory of a Little Giant, a special documentary
about Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh
produced by the Korean Broadcasting System (KBS
aired 3/17)

2000
Kuk Sool Won™ recognized as an Official Governing
Body for martial arts
by the South Korean Government

Kuk Sool Won™ participates in the KyungJu Cultural
Expo,
demonstration members include masters from all
over the world
and conclude with a final performance for the
President of South Korea

2001
World Kuk Sool Association® opens a traditional
training facility
on the outskirts of Houston (Tomball, TX)
incorporating over 20 acres of land

2002
Kuk Sool Won™ hosts the World Kuk Sool
Championships
at the Civic Auditorium in KyungJu, this is an
international event
with over 2000 competitors from across the globe,
also received were proclamations for a successful
event
from many world leaders such as North KyungSang
Provincial Governor Lee,
KyungJu City Mayor Baek, over a dozen U.S. State
Governors
and U.S. President G.W. Bush

When I was young, I devoted myself single mindedly to
the martial art world. I focused solely on training,
forgetting everything else, sometimes even forgetting to
eat and sleep! I traveled from province to province and
village to village to learn from over a hundred masters.
They taught me, one by one, the hidden secrets of
martial art, developed and refined over centuries by
many generations of martial artists. Sometimes I
learned only one special technique from a master. After
years of learning and research, I did not want to keep
the priceless arts of my ancestors to myself. After much
meditation and consideration, I decided to teach the
ancient martial arts of Korea to the public. That is when
I founded Kuk Sool Won (Korean National Martial Arts
Association).

At first, Kuk Sool was taught only in Korea, where it was
tremendously popular. Then, in 1974, I came to the
United States to bring Kuk Sool to the world outside of
Korea. The Kuk Sool organization in the United States
started from one school. In ten years there were
seventy-five schools. Today, forty years from the time
Kuk Sool was founded, there are several hundred
schools in many countries throughout the world. I
believe this phenomenal growth is due to the quality of
our martial art and to the support of its members and
officers.

(In Hyuk Suh, Kuk Sool Won™ Traditional Korean
Martial Art, Textbook Volume 1)

When the Japanese occupied Korea in 1910, they
forced master instructors of Korea's Royal Court
Army, such as Myung Duk Suh, into hiding for fear
of their lives. Martial Arts practice was strictly
forbidden. Myung Duk Suh returned to his home in
the Taegu area and secretly taught only his
immediate family.

The Suh family had practiced martial arts for 16
generations, and when Myung Duk Suh's young
grandson, In Hyuk Suh showed promise, his
grandfather concentrated his attention on him. His
serious martial arts education began when he was
only five years old.

Suh was still very young when his grandfather was
killed during the Korean conflict. However, his
grandfather had arranged special continued training
from many different teachers, comprising
backgrounds in all three Korean foundation martial
arts: Sado Mu Sool, Bulkyo Mu Sool, and Koong
Joong Mu Sool.

In the late 1950's, In Hyuk Suh combined his training
and organized and systemized Korea's scattered
martial art techniques into one single system,
appropriately named Kuk Sool Won™ (Korean
National Martial Art Association). Kuk Sool Won™
grew rapidly in Korea, finding favor not only with
native Koreans eager to rediscover ancient
traditional martial arts, but with American
Servicemen who also saw the practical side of this
training.

In Hyuk Suh came to the United States in 1974 to
establish Kuk Sool Won™ as the world's leading
traditional Korean Martial Arts system, with emhasis
placed on all forms of self-defense along with
complete mental and physical conditioning.

(In Hyuk Suh and Jane Hallander, The Fighting
Weapons of Korean Martial Arts 1988)