$50 million lawsuit against Tomball-based World Kuk Sool Association reveals allegations of sexual misconduct and assault

TOMBALL, Texas — A wrongful termination lawsuit against a Tomball-based martial arts empire alleges sexual misconduct and sexual harassment.

The World Kuk Sool Association (WKSA), dedicated to the study of Kuk Sool Won, or Korean martial arts, has more than a million members in hundreds of schools in 27 countries, according to its website.

Soon Jin Su is the eldest son of the founder In Hyuk Sun. He is suing the club, which is now run by his father and his second son Alex Suh.

“My client is suing the World Kuk Sool Association for wrongful termination, breach of contract and several other employment-related claims,” ​​said Alex Paul, Su's attorney. “My client was actually promised for decades that he would be the next president of the association.”

“All of that was moot when he decided to start a competing company,” said Dale Jefferson, WKSA’s attorney.

All of this is laid out in the lawsuit, which was transferred from California to the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, and which seeks $50 million in damages.

What came out of it, Paul said, is more than he expected.

“Since we filed the lawsuit, many people have come forward,” he said.

One of those people, Denise Brown, spoke publicly to ABC13 for the first time. She started as a student at Kook Suk Won School in Magnolia and eventually worked for the Suh family, she said. A police report she filed 16 years ago alleging Alex Suh sexually abused her while she was working as a babysitter is now part of the lawsuit against WKSA. Magnolia police investigated. When questioned by police, Suh denied the allegations to investigators. No charges were ever filed.

“I believe they provide a safe haven for predatory behavior,” Brown said. “I want him to be held accountable, if not for me, then for all the other victims that are out there.”

In a statement also included in the case, Ashley Sanchez, another former student whose father ran a school in Illinois, said Grandmaster In Hyuk Suh behaved inappropriately toward her 32 years ago, when she was about 7 years old.

“No grown man should ever get a kiss on the lips or anything like that from a little girl, and that's exactly what he did to me,” Sanchez said.

In response, WKSA, through its attorney Jefferson, announced that after receiving the allegations earlier this year, it hired an investigator who concluded that the allegations were unfounded.

Sanchez said she eventually told her stepmother and was never left alone with the club's masters or instructors again.

Last year, the U.S. Attorney's Office and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) raised the alarm about Franklin Joseph Perkins, a former teacher at Kuk Sool Won School in Alvin. He was arrested on child pornography charges. Perkins pleaded not guilty. The association said he was suspended after the arrest and the charges had nothing to do with the now-closed school.

Paul said that while these alleged incidents occurred at different times and places, they were nonetheless connected to the association and relevant to the lawsuit. He said his client's termination was also retaliation for his attempts to address such reports.

“This creates a climate where if something goes wrong, it can go unreported,” Paul said.

The defendants' attorney denies the allegations made in the lawsuit, saying the allegations of sexual assault and misconduct and possession of child pornography have nothing to do with the plaintiff's termination. He called the additional allegations a smear campaign.

“There is no connection,” Jefferson said. “He used this as an opportunity to wash dirty family laundry so he could try to extort millions of dollars from his parents and half-brother.”

Jefferson said they filed a countersuit claiming the plaintiff was fired for “disputes.” According to the suit, he did not follow the rules, he tried to convince school owners to leave the association, and he wrote a book that infringed on the association's copyrighted works.

“This is not someone who was unfairly fired. This is someone who decided to go into business for himself,” Jefferson said.

Paul, the plaintiff's attorney, said the claims in the countersuit were baseless and without merit.

In an earlier ruling, a judge reduced the legal dispute to “a bitter family dispute between father and son.”

The fight is expected to take place later this year in a Houston courtroom.

Meanwhile, HSI told ABC13 that the agency is still investigating the allegations against Perkins. Anyone with information is asked to contact HSI in Galveston at 409-443-0103.

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