Taekwondo coach suspended for disciplining teen

N.S. governing body conducting an investigation into incident

A taekwondo grand master has betrayed everything the martial art stands for by caning a 17-year-old student, says the head of the Nova Scotia governing body.

“There are a number of us who are deeply outraged and offended by that action because it does go against everything that we teach,” Doug Large said of Woo Yong Jung, the former Olympic medallist who operates and instructs at Woo Yong’s Taekwondo Academy on Kempt Road in Halifax.

“Taekwondo, as a martial art and a sport, is an honourable practice and we don’t believe that those actions represent taekwondo in any way, shape or form.”

e actions Large refers to are the caning of a student in front of other athletes at the multigenerational martial arts school. e teen, according to a parent whose young son attends the school, had acted disrespectfully and aggressively toward Jung at a Christmas party.

e parent said the South Korean-born Jung, at the ensuing class on Jan. 9, struck the student several times on his bare back with a cane while most of the class looked on. ose students below the age of 13 were sent to the change room but could hear the punishment being administered and the teen responding in pain, the parent said.

“I can’t see why he would be allowed to teach anymore,” the parent said, adding that the teen was given the choice of accepting the punishment or leaving the school. “It’s an absolute betrayal of the tradition of taekwondo.”

Reached for comment Friday, Jung, 55, deferred to his lawyer, Jason Gavras.

“ e discipline administered was fully consented to by the 17- year- old student and his parents and is in keeping with Grand Master Jung’s cultural training and tradition,” Gavras said. “e student who was disciplined, his younger brother and the parents have all written letters of support for Master Jung. No one – of all of his students – other than an anonymous person, has complained.”

Gavras said the matter was fully investigated by the police and provincial social services, who met personally with the family and were satisfied the case should be closed. Gavras said no one in attendance felt intimidated by the incident.

Halifax Regional Police con rmed they had investigated.

Const. Carol Mcisaac said the investigation was concluded on Feb. 4 with no charges laid.

“It’s assault,” the parent argued. “No one can consent to be beaten.”

But Mcisaac said that is not actually true.

“Most often in the case of common assault if a person consents then it is not an assault,” she said.

Large, also a taekwondo master, owns and operates the Chimo school in Halifax. Jung was an instructor at Large’s practice in its early years.

“What he did goes against not only the policies of the Maritime Taekwondo Union but also against so many of the principles and the spirit of taekwondo,” Large said.

In its code of conduct, the Maritime Taekwondo Union, which is really a Nova Scotia-only body, defines improper conduct as “physically aggressive behaviours that have the potential to cause harm to another person, in particular if the behaviour is exhibited with the intent to abuse power, intimidate or bully. Such behaviour does not have to meet the standard of assault or physical contact in order to be considered inappropriate under this code.”