My daughter is going to be stationed in Osan Korea for a year. She has no martial arts experience but listened to her Dad suggest she not miss an opportunity to learn from someone "in country." I don't think she cares what style as long as it isn't McDojo which would make her Daddy cry.

Thanks,

Bill

I thought McDojos only existed in America.

the answer = no

no

no

there are lots of McDojangs in Korea, just like everywhere else. There's plenty of Bullshido, too. Gicheon alone provides enough Bullshido for an entire continent.

If it is still there, I believe there is a Tang Soo Do school available. Else, there should be an "on base" class taught by a local.

To answer the OP, here are a few gyms in or near Osan (not on base). I haven't been to any of them. English probably isn't spoken, but they might be worth trying.

1. taekkyon
-- instructor: Im Jae-ho / 임재호
-- phone: 031-372-6930

This is likely to be a good place to train.


2. taekwondo
-- instructor: Kim Do-yeong / 김도영
-- phone: (010) 8961-2707

I have no idea.


3. Kyeoktugi / 격투기 - this just means "fighting." These kinds of schools typically teach something like MMA, though the quality varies hugely. This gym is in Pyeongtaek, which is relatively close to Osan.
-- instructor: who knows?
-- phone: (031) 655-9669


I'll look for others if I ever have more time.

If Mr. Yi is still running the Dragon Gate (Hapkido) downtown he's definately worth looking up (things may have changed there a bit since 1988 though).

I lived in Korea for several years and being a huge MA fan I studied multiple styles in that time usually attending 2-3 different classes a night at 2-3 different schools up to 6 days a week. In retrospect I spent time training at places that I now wish I hadn't wasted my time on. If I could do it all over again here's what I would've done;

Judo: I actually spent a fair amount of time studying Judo in Korea, I just wish I had spent more.

TKD: If you find the right gym it's worth the effort.

Taekkyon: I really wish I would've done this.

GongKwon YooSool: I didn't know of it's existence while I was there. If I did I would've trained it for sure.

KyukTooGi: Basically Korean kickboxing, but now it is taking on more of a MMA slant. Really it's more of training to fight in a specific rules set than an actual system, but good nontheless.

Things to avoid in general (there are good and bad schools for each style but generally the bad far out number the good) :

- Any kind of Wushu, unless they teach SanDa.
- Kuk Sool Won or anything with the name Kuk Sool in the title.
- HapKido, there are some good HKD schools but they can be difficult to find.
- Kumdo, Yeah it's fun to twirl swords around but in the long run a waste of time.
- Hwa Rang Do, total made up bullshit and in Korea they jump around in orange and pink
uniforms. That right there was enough to make me avoid it like the plague.
- TeGong Moo Sool, Special forces martial art! Whatever, see hapkido.

All of this is just my opinion based on my time there. Hope this helps.

Ronin,

Sounds like you did quite a study. Do you recall any specific school names that were good around Osan?

Unfortunately no. I was living in Kangnam area of Seoul and tried to keep my training confined to that region to cut down on travel. Basically my above post is a guideline of what to consider and what to avoid.

We have some members that are actually currently stationed in Korea that would be more up to date on what are the good KMA schools right now, hopefully they'll make their way to this thread.

There are two different kinds of fencing schools in Korea. One is Haedong Kumdo, that's the twirling the swords around one. The other is just Kumdo, and that's just Japanese Kendo with a different name. The Kumdo places can be really good. The Haedong Kumdo places are pretty awful.

As far as MAs, from what I've seen personally, Judo may be one of the best to study in Korea. The schools I've been to use the old school system, white belt, brown belt, black belt. That's it. They train hard, and the instructors are good. The only issue, most of them use the Korean names for the throws, so you may have to figure out the Japanese terms later, pretty much anywhere else in the world. Not such a big sacrifice for good instruction though.

I know it isn't osan, but I put up a dojang review for Muay Thai. Time to start a "where to train" thread in Korea?
I highly recommend Judo or Boxing gyms in Korea. Go straight for the arts that Koreans have been known for.

I was in Songtan/Pyeongtaek, Korea (otherwise known as the Osan AB area) for 10 months from July of 2008 to May of 2009. I trained there and looked around a lot. Here is what I know of the area.

On Base

There are instructors that teach the following styles:


Tae Kwon Do - McDojo/minor-moderate bullshido
Hapkido - I don't know.
Muay Thai - Garbage, but still probably more worth training than some of the others. Instructor may have never actually trained Muay Thai
BJJ - Free, and open ended. Taught by various higher ranks at different times. Consistent blue belt.
Tang Soo Do - I don't know.

Off Base

All of the classes that teach on base, with the exception of the BJJ, also have a school off base. These schools are no different than the classes on base, with the exception of possibly having more/better equipment.

In addition, there are at least 2 boxing gyms more-or-less right off base, easily within a short walk from the gate. I checked one out and decided not to train there. The instructor was really nice.

The place that I decided to train at (based on ease and schedule) was a Judo place. 20-30 minute walk from the gate. All Koreans. Very little English spoken (but they try). GREAT school. Decent, hard training most of the time. Mainly middle school kids, but all nice. There are maybe 10 adult(ish) students that do it because they love it, and like to train hard. Many of the middle school kids (who I'm not much bigger than) also train hard. Main, head, owner/instructor is a really jovial 6th degree male, but the main normal instructor is an early-20's, higher ranking woman who trained for multiple years in Judo at Yong-In University (sport college). She's extremely skilled. I mention this because you're asking for your daughter. There are also a few other girls there (middle schoolers) and one other adult female black belt with a really strong neck.

Bah, anyway, I'm rambling, sorry about that. I obviously trained at the Judo school the most. Other than that, I trained in the TKD school for 2 months, BJJ for 2 months I think, and the Muay Thai gym for a few weeks.

If you're looking for more specific information about any of those schools, including names of the instructors, locations, websites, or contact information, I can likely provide all of it if you ask.

Let me know.

Hello,

Was she able to find a good place to train?

I am now currently stationed in Korea at Osan for 2 years and I am really wanting to learn the Judo. Do you remember where it was located Tangent?

A few friends and I started up Osan MMA so we don't have to fall into a trap off base, we have our own 2 hour slot to train in the gym. I just want to hit up Judo so I can get some real MA experience... also working my BJJ.