HomeUl-Ji Tul

What I’ve discovered

 

Ul-Ji Moon Dok (also Ulchi Mundok) remains a national hero in Korea, during the fight for

independence around 1905; the feats of Ul-Ji (and others) were published in history books

and biographies in order to arouse a spirit of nationalism in the people.

 

There are no records of his exact dates of birth/death, but he was instrumental in destroying

 the Sui invaders in 612 A.D.

 

 The Sui had unified China at the end of the 6th Century and then launched a war against Koguryo.

 

As an educated man Ul-Ji was skilled in politics, however it was his military skills that were

needed in 612 A.D.

 

General Ul-Ji used his ingenious military tactics to lull the Sui into a false sense of security,

by continually retreating and feigning defeat he was able to lure them into a trap.

 

 He had claimed to surrender in order to gain access to the enemy camp, once in the confines

of the camp he had established that the Sui were short of supplies.

 

This enabled him to formulate his plan, by retreating and making the confrontation go on

for longer General Ul-Ji was able to exhaust his enemy and finally at Salsu his guerrilla tactics

led to victory and the Koguryo forces were able to destroy most of the 300,000 troops that

 had crossed the Yalu River.

 

The Sui troops were only able to withdraw 2,700 men from Koguryo;

these great loses probably led to the Sui being overthrown by the Tang in 618 A.D.

 

In his encyclopaedia General Choi told us:

 This pattern is named after General Ul-Ji Moon Dok who successfully defended Korea

 against a massive Chinese invasion force, of nearly one million soldiers, led by

Yang Je in 612 A.D., Ul-Ji employing hit and run guerrilla tactics, was able to decimate

 a large percentage of the force. The diagram represents his surname.

The 42 movements represent General Choi’s age when he designed the pattern.