In the late 1970s, the North Korean Army created the 8th Attack commando unit.  To counter this special commando unit threat, the top generals of the South Korean Army decided to create a special commando unit inside their current South Korean Special Forces group. They called the new commando unit the Tu Kong unit. Tu Kong means: Special Combat.

The Tu Kong commando unit was to be the most elite infantry combat unit in the S.K.A.  It was to be trained in close-quarters, hand-to-hand, and jungle combat techniques as well as modern weapons and tactics.  The unit was originally comprised of 454 men. Today, there are several Tukong Units inside the South Korean Special Forces group attached to many divisions.

This Special Forces unit would be required to do more physical training and weapons readiness than other Special Forces units.  It also needed a more advanced and modernized form of martial arts combat training than the typical old style Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, and Judo other soldiers were trained in regularly.

The second official commander of the Tu Kong unit, Gen. Chang K Oe, after taking over the Tu Kong unit command from the original commander, ordered five masters of martial arts from the Tu Kong Unit and one martial arts master from the Headquarters unit to work together to design an elite martial arts training program for the Tu Kong unit.

Today tens thousands of soldiers have trained in the South Korean Army's Tu Kong Unit since 1981. All have been touched by the original six Master's knowledge and experience. The current Tukong Unit combat training program is not the same as when it was first developed almost 20 years ago. Other martial arts masters from the Tu Kong unit have continued to improve and evolve it to stay current and cutting edge.