South
Korean Special Forces Tukong Unit
In the late 1970s, the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea (North Korea) Army created the 8th Attack
commando unit. To counter this special commando unit
threat, the top generals of the Republic of Korea
(South Korea) 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 South
Korean Army. 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.
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