I am surprised "Gjogsul" hasn't been much of a topic on here.

[Bayroum]

My first martial arts system ever was "Gjogsul" which was taught by my father who learnt it during his time in the military.
I heard many negative things about it online, most likely due to people not really knowing what Gjogsul is.
I personally found it to be extremely effective. Not only has Gjogsul helped me to defend my life in my teenage years on two occassions but also has it been a very good foundation when I started Kickboxing, ITF Taekwondo and Karate later on in life.

Has anyone else had experience with Gjogsul on here ?

 

[skribs]

I've never even heard of it. Looking it up, it's a North Korean martial art, and North Korea doesn't get along with most of the world and hasn't for quite some time. That's probably a big factor.

Compare it to other Asian martial arts. Muay Thai is a combat sport and one of the most popular components of MMA. Taekwondo is an Olympic sport. Tang Soo Do has strong connections to Karate, including Chuck Norris and the Karate Kid. Oh, there's Karate. Kung Fu is popular because of Hong Kong cinema. There's a lot of myth around Ninjutsu. Judo is an Olympic sport. Aikido you have Steven Segal, who is as controversial as the art he represents. Katanas are as legendary as the ninjas who may or may not have used them (depending on which myth you listen to).

 

[Instructor]

My first martial arts system ever was "Gjogsul" which was taught by my father who learnt it during his time in the military.
I heard many negative things about it online, most likely due to people not really knowing what Gjogsul is.
I personally found it to be extremely effective. Not only has Gjogsul helped me to defend my life in my teenage years on two occassions but also has it been a very good foundation when I started Kickboxing, ITF Taekwondo and Karate later on in life.

Has anyone else had experience with Gjogsul on here ?

No I haven't but I would love to hear more about your experiences with it.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I'd never even heard of it before - unless it's the demos I've seen of north korean martial arts. Don't think I ever saw a name with it.

Makes sense given that North Korea is isolated, and looked down on in a lot of the world. But if you've got experience with it, feel free to talk about it and spread knowledge!

 

[Oily Dragon]

I'm assuming you don't currently live in the DPRK? Are you German? KSG is still popular there.

It's a mashup of pre and post WWII native Korean martial arts (inc Chinese and Japanese influences) and stuff developed during the Korean war, but unfortunately because of its association with Communist army alliances, has a lot of "dear leader" stuff caked on top of a lot other actual Korean history going back to the Three Kingdoms era.

So, it's basically a nationalistic martial art (just like TKD, and overlapping quite a lot), but with a focus on destroying your enemies vs. the traditional tenets of TKD.

To sum it up, KSG is nowadays credited to Kim Jong Un's grandfather by the DPRK, which I find highly unlikely. Still, North Koreans were still teaching it to their Warsaw Pact comrades as late as 1988, the year before the Berlin wall fell.

 

[WaterGal]

I've never even heard of it. Looking it up, it's a North Korean martial art, and North Korea doesn't get along with most of the world and hasn't for quite some time. That's probably a big factor.

I hadn't heard of it either. This does remind me though of the the time I met a Russian TKD instructor. That was years ago, but if I remember correctly, he said that in the Soviet days the government would have North Korean martial arts instructors come to Russia to teach, but these days it's mostly KKW TKD and Judo and stuff like that. I wonder if OP's dad grew up in the USSR.