Master Choung M. Park and the Mu Do Kwan

[SahBumNimRush]

I have a student who studied Tae Kwon Do back in the 90's in Indianapolis under a Master Choung M. Park. He brought his geup certificate in for me to see last night at class, and the association is Mu Do Kwan (NOT Moo Duk Kwan). Is anyone familiar with this school or Master Park?


The symbol looks reminiscent of the Chung Do Kwan, as it is a fist with the Um Yang behind it, and surrounding the symbol, it reads "United States Korea Tae Kwon Do Association."

 

[Kinghercules]

Sounds like something they created.
Do they have a website?

 

[Dirty Dog]

Well, if you google this gentleman, this thread is the #2 result. So there's pretty much nothing on the web about him, or it.

 

[Bo_Howell]

I have a student who studied Tae Kwon Do back in the 90's in Indianapolis under a Master Choung M. Park. He brought his geup certificate in for me to see last night at class, and the association is Mu Do Kwan (NOT Moo Duk Kwan). Is anyone familiar with this school or Master Park?


The symbol looks reminiscent of the Chung Do Kwan, as it is a fist with the Um Yang behind it, and surrounding the symbol, it reads "United States Korea Tae Kwon Do Association."

Do you have a copy or picture of the certificate?

 

[dvcochran]

Do you have a copy or picture of the certificate?

I am familiar with a Master Park in Indy through tournaments but do not know his formal name
I have never heard of Mu Do Kwan.
I wonder if it is affiliated with one of the MDK social clubs in Korea like the Moo Duk Sae (I think)?
FWIW, I have seen Moo Duk Kwan spelling butchered many times.

 

[Rhollis1974]

I have a student who studied Tae Kwon Do back in the 90's in Indianapolis under a Master Choung M. Park. He brought his geup certificate in for me to see last night at class, and the association is Mu Do Kwan (NOT Moo Duk Kwan). Is anyone familiar with this school or Master Park?


The symbol looks reminiscent of the Chung Do Kwan, as it is a fist with the Um Yang behind it, and surrounding the symbol, it reads "United States Korea Tae Kwon Do Association."

Hi. I was a student of Master Choung M. Park 2001-2006. After I moved, I lost contact with him. I’ve wandered if he’s still living and how he’s doing.

 

[WaterGal]

My understanding is that "Mu Do Kwan" means "martial arts school". So this was probably just his own school certificate. I don't know if "United States Korea Taekwondo Association" was the name of his school, or was some now-defunct TKD organization that he was part of (maybe an attempt at creating a US branch of the KTA?).

 

[HighKick]

I have a student who studied Tae Kwon Do back in the 90's in Indianapolis under a Master Choung M. Park. He brought his geup certificate in for me to see last night at class, and the association is Mu Do Kwan (NOT Moo Duk Kwan). Is anyone familiar with this school or Master Park?


The symbol looks reminiscent of the Chung Do Kwan, as it is a fist with the Um Yabehind it, and surrounding the symbol, it reads "United States Korea Tae Kwon Do Association."

I know a GM Choung M. Park quite well from my tournament days. He is or was very legit but never affiliated his schools with KKW. His schools were called Indianapolis Taekwondo. I do see that the websites appear to be dead links now. I cannot speak to that or whether he is still teaching. GM Chung Sae Park was also part of the school. I don't know much about Mu Do Kwan

 

[andyjeffries]

Mu Do Kwan (무도관) is the same Hanja as Budokwan in Japanese. I don't know if that's of interest/relevant. Definitely different Hangul from 무덕관 (Mu Deok Kwan) though. Maybe it was where the founder originally learned Karate, before switching branding over to Taekwondo?

https://namu.wiki/w/%EC%9D%BC%EB%B3%B8%20%EB%AC%B4%EB%8F%84%EA%B4%80

 

[SahBumNimRush]

Thanks Master Jeffries. The student from the OP moved out of state a couple of years after the post.

I'm not sure how I didn't make the connection between Budokan and Mu Do Kwan! It's relatively obvious, haha. I still have very little info on the curriculum or history, but it is of little relevance at this point, beyond curiosity.

 

[Ralph]

I was a student there years ago. I believe at one time it was west side mudo kwan.
Later he teamed up with I believe master jay park, master hwang and maybe master Choi under A1 grandmasters.
They were all 7th or 8th dans. Choung Park taught taekwondo and Hapkido.
I believe he also was a 6th degree in Judo,
He had 2 sons jay and Billie.
I can’t seem to find anything on him on the web. I believe my Ge had west side mudokwan on it, I’ll have to look.
He was a silver medalists in the Korean Olympics and I believe world judo champion as well.
He was an outstanding teacher.

 

[TaeKwonD'oh]

I was also a student there for many years. He was a great teacher. Unfortunately the school closed during COVID. I believe he's still kicking around in retirement.