Russian Martial Art Spreading in Korea

If you heard about sambo it is because of Russia’s national effort to promote sambo, its national martial art, worldwide.

Mixed martial arts world champion and sambo fighter Fedor Emelianenko, 30, personally escorted reporters on a two-day tour of St. Petersburg. Fedor who accepted Korea Sambo Federation President Moon Jong-kum’s invitation and visited Korea in January with his younger brother, Alexander, 25, is a national hero in Russia.

Sambo has been spread to 58 countries, and mainly those near the former Soviet Union. In Russia, sambo is taught at school and in the military, so virtually all Russians are familiar with it. In fact, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who himself is also a former sambo fighter, is the honorary president of the World Sambo Federation.

President Putin is encouraging promotion of sambo like taekwondo or judo and trying to make it an official Olympic sport. Nevertheless, he will need at least 70 countries actively enjoying sambo in order to challenge for a spot at the Olympic games.

The reason why Moon embarked on the mission of promoting the virtually unheard-of sambo in Korea is because of the Russian government’s urgent request in 2001 asking him to promote sambo in Korea. Moon originally practiced aikido and taught it to foreign diplomats living in Korea. He also worked as an action movie actor and director, producing eight movies, including “Saulabi,” and also succeeded financially by importing the Hollywood movie, “I am Sam.”

In 2002, Moon used all his money earned through movies to create the Korean Sambo Federation and started acquiring gyms and training tutors. Currently, the number of people practicing sambo in Korea is about 3,000. There are about 150 masters and 80 gyms. The visit of the Emelianenko brothers left a sambo boom in its wake, leading to a drastic increase in the sambo population.

The Russian government is actively promoting sambo by sending two masters to Korea and Consul Vitaly V. Markovskiy of the Russian Embassy in Korea to fully support sambo related activities.

Moon plans to hold an M-1 tournament, hugely popular in Russia and Europe, in Korea in the later half of this year. He wants to challenge the fight circuits Pride and K-1 League led by the Japanese. Most Russian M-1 stars are sambo fighters, and he expects that sambo will be greatly publicized.

Korean mixed martial arts fans will be able to see the Emelianenko brothers and other Russian sambo stars battle in Korea around September or October.

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com