Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
Dan Simons is our guest. Heis the Republican candidate for Harris County District
Attorney in November. You probably won'tsee anything written about it, or not
much. You won't see any coverageof it. There will be a not
(00:25):
very widely watched Saturday community affairs onone of the local TV network interviews and
that'll be about it. There maybe a debate that nobody attends. That's
just the way these races play out. And so we'll wake up the day
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after voting for Trump versus Biden andhave no idea who wins what. Which
is a damn shame because who theHarris County District Attorney is is extremely important.
You think who the attorney is thedistrict attorney in New York is important
(01:08):
because if it's not fat Alvin Bragg, you don't have the president being convicted,
you don't have that case being brought. Cyrus Vance chose not to bring
that case. Dan Simons is ourguest. Dan, Let's talk about the
last few years with the Harris CountyDistrict Attorney's office. The incumbent, Kim
(01:32):
Ogg lost to Shawn Tier, andwe can assume that Shaan Tier would would
probably move way to the left ofeven kim Ogg because it was Rodney Ellis
squeezing her out for bringing the caseagainst Lena that cost her the district the
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nomination in the first place. Buttalk a little bit about what has happened
with the Harris County District Attorney's office, because it wasn't always you know,
this was Johnny Holmes's District Attorney's office. This was law and order. Harris
County was a place that bad guysunderstood that happened. Talk about where that's
gone wrong and how you could fixit. Where it went wrong was when
(02:14):
George Soros found a very cheap wayto ignite a war against our country through
local races. They were cheap.Put in one hundred thousand dollars. You
can get a DA in there.The first thing they do is strip the
DA's office of thousands of years ofexperience, rid of all the top prosecutors.
Second, get the crime lab defundedto the point to where it loses
credibility, and then have everybody madat police officers. Nobody trust police.
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We have seen this play out inevery city. This guy's infected. And
let me tell you whether you likeKim aug or not. She was not
removed because of crime. She wasnot removed because of the revolving door at
the jailhouse with bonds. She wasremoved for doing her job investigating corruption that
led to Democrats. And the personthat ran against her was endorsed by Lena
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to get out of an investigation supportedby Rodney to get rid of Kim magg
because they don't want Democrats investigated forcorruption. And that's where we are with
Harris County right now. When Isaw that everybody should be just completely taken
back going what just happened. You'vegot a county judge trying to siphon eleven
million dollars in a bid that wentto a single lady in an apartment complex
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with zero experience versus University of Texasand their labs and all the resources they
have to do COVID outreach. Thatwas nothing more than to try to get
out the vote money to go tothe DC operatives like Top, which my
opponent likes to stand next to thisposter that says empty the jails in cash
bonds. They wreaked havoc on thebonding industry. So law enforcement which is
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very limited in Harris County. Bythe way, four point seven million people,
thirteen thousand total law enforcement for threeships. The bondsmen would go out
and bring these people back because they'reresponsible, but they're no longer really involved.
They have taken and stripped a lotof things away in this fake justice
reform. We have to go onthere and fix that from day one,
and kim Ogg and the mayor havealready set the tone. They are already
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bringing charges on corruption for other areasand I think more to come. But
if I don't get elected, andthis is really important for everybody out there,
there are three responsibility the DA's theDistricttorney House Office has one all crimes
in the state of Texas and victims. Two corruption public corruption. My opponent
is not going and already said he'snot going to go after Democrats because if
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he did, he would get removedlike Kim Ogg did. And three voter
fraud. It is no longer incomment on the Attorney General and there's only
one person that can investigate voter fraud. George Soros owns three DA's in the
state of Texas. He wants thefourth one wants Harris County. Harris county
is no longer just a district attorney'srace. This is the race for the
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state of Texas in two years.This is a race for the country in
four years. Because if I don'tget elected, this person is not going
to go after voter fraud and theycould bury a million votes between those four
counties and flip the state of Texasblue. This is a much bigger deal.
And I keep telling all the Republicansout there, You've got a great
voice down here, a great story, run with it. We can win
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this because there are a lot ofDemocrats that don't like crime too. I
mean, crime does not discriminate.And there's a way to fix this and
to go down this road we're goingwith this individual that doesn't want to go
after corruption. That in fact,that's what separates us. I can talk
about corruption, he can't. Andto have these people in power that are
siphoning and there's billions of dollars goingthrough the Commissioner's court, Rodney Ellis would
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love nothing more to weaponize the DistrictAttorney's at court, the dist Attorney's office
and just have an extension of Commissioner'sCourt. He would have that in this
puppet that's sore us funded. Thisis what we're up against, and we
need everybody to pay attention to thisrace because this is not this is this
very well could decide your safety,and I'm someone that you can trust.
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I've got sixteen years of business experience. I bring being a former prosecutor defense
attorney. I know what it meansto be a real child victim. I
know what it means to be falselyaccused and have to fight your entire life
to get where you are. I'msomebody that could actually make real change and
bring back stability to DA's office andHarris County to where we don't have people
walking around not being held accountable.I can make a difference, but I
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can't do it alone. I needeverybody's help, and like you said,
going all the way down the ballot, just give me the opportunity. Look
at what I've done with very little, Imagine what I can do with all
the support and help so far inthis race. Fundraising the nuts and bolts
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of a campaign. Has the countyparty been of assistance? Has the state
party been of assistance? Had thebig donors that are the usual big donors
been of assistance? How has thatgone so far. I have been courting
the big donors for about three monthsnow, doing everything I can to get
them interested because a lot of peoplefeel that, oh, Harrison County's lost,
(07:12):
some saying look, and Dan Patricksays it best. We didn't know
if we were going to go winthe Civil War, but we had to
go fight it. We didn't knowif we're going to win World War two,
but we had to go fight it. We have to go and fight
this fight in November. We don'tknow what's going to happen. We have
to put up a fight. AndI'm telling you now, we can win
this, and we can win thiswith a lot of support from areas that
we would never expect. And asfar as fundraising is, it has not
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been the best because of that fear. And I tell people I'm the best
investment you can make for your life, for your family's life, for your
challenges. Getting people interested in thisrace, Dan, I'm up against a
break, folks. If you cangive even a minimal amount of money,
I will tell you, as aformer candidate, that makes it all the
difference in the world. His websiteis Dan da n the number four d
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A. It's very easy, Danfor da dot com. The site is
actually a great candidate. Site tellsyou everything about him, everything he cares
about, lays out the plans,lays out his background, gives you an
opportunity to endorse, gives you anopportunity to donate. Look, if it
is to be, it's up tome. You're gonna have to take charge
of this, folks. You're gonnahave to get him over the finish line.
He cannot do it alone. Danfodd a dot com What Betty Show,
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everybody was going okay. First ofall, Ramon, you're an idiot
because they do taekwondo, not kungfu. But I will admit if I
get hold of that cricket video,cricket wireless video of the whole family going
roundhouse kicks on this, dude,I'm gonna put it to this and it's
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going viral and the On family aregonna be the new hot thing because this
is such a great story. Ilove this story so much, Simon On
as our family. Simon, you'regoing to have to forgive my own mistakes
here and help me out. Doyou pronounce your last name? On?
(09:11):
Yes? They're on? Okay,and where is a family Korean. Where
are y'all from originally? Yes,we are from South Korea. My mom
and daughter from South Korea, andme, myself and my brother and my
sister are just born here in America. Okay, So I saw a picture.
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One of our team fished out apicture of what looks like you,
your brother, your sister, andyour mom and your dad. Mom and
dad are wearing blue. Y'all arewearing red. Is there a significance to
the color? Yes? Yes,the blue represents master like grandmaster and master,
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and the red is just an instructoruniform we were just wearing on that
day to teach studgets. And isthe whole Are all five of y'all involved
in the business? Yes, sir? Oh wow, okay, every day
every day? And where are We'relocated in Katie, Texas? Okay,
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and like whereabouts? Get me there? From downtown? I'm taking I ten,
I cross the Beltway, the thendirect me to get there. You
just go on Fry and you justgo passed and you just go straight on
Fry towards. Let me see thatI do have the address, if that
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helps. No, I'm just gettinga general idea. How far off of
I tent are you, I wouldsay, A good twenty thirty minutes?
Oh wow? Okay? South ornorth? If I'm coming from downtown?
Am I turning left? Which issouth? Or right? Which is north?
Norse? Right? All right?And do y'all live out there as
(11:05):
well? Uh? No, welive in Cyprus. So how long does
it take you to get to thedojo every day? A good ten ten
minutes? Okay? And are youokay? So I'm looking at the photo
and one of you is a littleOne of the brothers is a little taller
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and wears glasses. The other one'sa slight bit shorter. Which one are
you? So I'm the one withthe glasses? Sir? Okay? So
you're the tallest, Yes, sir, you're considerably taller than everyone else.
Sir okay. So if you andand so give me this. So your
your brother's name is Christian? Okay, So Simon versus Christian? Straight up?
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Under the rules of taekwondo, who'sgoing to win that? Under the
rule of taekwondo? Uh, Iwould have to give it to my little
brother. Really, is that?Because taekwondo teach and you're being you're being,
uh the bigger person. I wouldjust say yeah. I would just
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say he's very just more stronger thanme, only because he had more training
than me. He looks like hehas very broad shoulders, like he'd have
a good ground game if y'all went, mm yeah, yeah, what is
so? How old are you?I'm twenty so okay? And Christian he's
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eighteen. And your sister what's hername? Oh, she's Hannah Hannah.
You say Hannah or Hannah Hannah HannahOkay, I like Hannah on I think
that is a good you know,ring to it. Yeah, and then
yeah, yeah, what do youcall your father away from the dojo?
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Away? We just we just callhim a dad or apa. That means
in Korean it means dad. Yes, sir, Well you probably know this,
but in many cultures some version ofabba ah bah bah apa papa are
all that same kind of uh andI think it has something to do with
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the phonetics of when a child isborn, but across uh many different cultures,
so that the Greeks call grandma opah, but it's all very similar.
What do you call mom? Wecall her oh ma, oh ma ma
okay, all right, yes,And in the dojo, what do you
refer to your father as I referredto him as master on. Okay,
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the article said grandmaster, yes,sir, but you only call him master.
What do you refer to your motheras in the dojo? Uh?
Master on as well? But uhwe we call them both on. But
I will say for my mother,I go by our first name, just
(14:09):
to differentiate both of them. SoI'll go Master Hong Hong. Okay.
So in a typical day, doy'all all ride together to the dojo?
Do y'all all live together and ridetogether to the dojo? Yes, sir,
Yes, sir in one vehicle?Yes, sir man, this is
like a movie. And so andso what time do y'all get to the
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dojo? Every day? Will gethere at four after our lunch break.
Okay, So you don't you don'tarrive in the morning, you come in
the afternoon, yes, sir.Well, my dad arrives in the morning
to get just everything set up.By two o'clock he leaves, and then
two hour break lunch break, andcomes we are and then we all come
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back at four. So on theday of of everything and that what how
long ago was this that this guyy'all had to y'all had to put the
whoop down on him at the CricketWireless store. We hed we held him
now for I would say ten minutes. Okay, What day was that?
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I was on? Tuesday? Okay, Tuesday? So y'all had I read
that y'all had been to lunch andthen you were coming. You were coming,
and they said back to the dojo, but for you, for the
rest of you. Y'all were comingto the dojo for the first time for
the day to begin the day's work, right, yes, sir, okay,
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So walk me through that moment.What had y'all had for lunch?
Uh? On that day? Ibelieve we had if you know, soba
is like a cold noodle. Wehad that and at a restaurant, No,
at home? Okay? And whomade that? Mom? Or Dad?
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Yes? Mom, amazing took it? Yeah, okay, all right,
So you had this cold noodle withwhat else with it? Like a
hot tea? He had like ayeah, like a hot fried like meat.
I believe it was pork, okay. And then you so you come
in, you arrive at the dojo, and then what happens? Okay?
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So when we when we arrived atthe dojo, it was like, my
dad got out of his car andthen he kind of noticed in that like
the feet through window that the manwas like almost like hugging the woman,
and so he kind of thought nothingof it. He thought it was like
horse play, and so he wentto open the the dojo, and from
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there you could he heard the screens, and so he just took a quick
right into the cricket just to lookagain. And then from then he didn't
see no one, so he hewas like okay, and he went to
try to open individual again, andthen from there you would hear a second
screen which was like it was somethingout of a horror film. Like I
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heard it, my mom heard it, sister heard it, brother heard it,
everyone heard it. And so wejust all of us just kind of
just ran into the cricket and wesaw there was an employee's room in the
back. So my dad opened thatdoor to where that man was on top
of the girl with his hands overher, with his hands over her mouth.
(17:34):
Okay, hold on just a moment. Simon On is our guest.
I will continue this conversation. Thanksfor being with us. This is fascinating.
Michael Berry show a good news storyout of bad came good talk about
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being a good neighbor. At aCypress taekwondo dojo, the On family,
led by Grandmaster han On. Thefather, the patriarch of the family,
his wife, and the three kidsarrive at their dojo and they hear at
the cricket wireless store next door screamscoming out. The patriarch of the family,
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the father goes rushing in and Simon, one of the sons, the
oldest of the sons, who istwenty Simon, take us to the story.
From there, you said, hehears the screams, he runs to
the employee room in the back wherehe sees a sexual assault occurring. And
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have you followed Have you followed inbehind him? Yes, sir, I
just followed right behind him, makingsure you know he doesn't get hurt.
And so from there he opened thedoor to see the man on top of
the woman. So instinctively he justdidn't think about anything. He just grabbed
him and pulled him off of thewoman. And from there he kind of
(19:10):
pulled him into a corner and justpinned them in the corner. Okay,
So, our executive producer is amartial arts guy. He trains every day
in the middle of the day.He's done this his entire life, and
I asked him for input, andhe said the Khou story mentions quote it
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only took a moment for Simon andHannah's father, Grandmaster han On, to
jump in and take the suspect downend quote, and Chad writes, there
seems to be a growing census inmartial arts disciplines to incorporate all facets,
both ground and striking for self defensepurposes. How much groundwork have you trained
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in and how did you take thesuspect down? And once on top,
how did you subdue him. I'vebeen training groundwork in the around sixteen years
in my life. I praying groundworkfor I would say a good five years
throughout my sixteen years. So fromthere, when my dad grabbed him,
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he just kind of like almost heput his leg behind the man's leg and
just kind of like tossed him andflipped his leg up to where he's off
balanced. And so from there hewhen the man was down on his legs,
I mean, on his knees,he just kind of just straight armed
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the collar of his shirt. Hejust grabbed that and just straight armed it.
And from there he just put allthe weight so the man can't really
get up. So how big wasthis guy that y'all subdued? I would
say he is my father's height andlike maybe ten pounds lighter than my father,
(21:02):
Okay, but he was pretty muscular. Okay, yeah, because I
mean looking at a photo and Imean this is the beauty of martial arts,
right, is that it uses atechnique over brawn and can even the
field and in the case of yourfather, give him a distinct advantage for
not being very big. So myquestion was, you know, was this
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guy So are you at this point? Is someone else calling the police at
this point? Yes, sir,So from there, me and my brother
were just yelling at my sister toget the cops. Hurry, hurry,
hurry. From there, she calledthe cops, and a neighboring business,
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an insurance company. The woman cameout and saw the whole thing, and
she just immediately called nine one oneas well. And how long would you
guess it took for or the policeto arrive. I will give a ten
minutes. That's my asst. It'salways so focused on the man. So
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are you are you standing? Areyou standing back? While dad has him
down or are you also applying pressure? So yes, my dad is just
holding him down. I'm just lookingat if he's going to reach for a
weapon or with his other hand maybelike hit my dad and you know,
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maybe kicking. I just want toprevent all those things because I mean,
even my dad, I don't wantto hurt. I don't want him to
be hurt. Of course. Well, so you train every day in a
sport and a discipline that involves whatmight be called violence. They're striking,
there's pain, there's all these things. How worried are you at this point?
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Not because your dad isn't trained andprepared for this moment, but as
you say, he said that there'sa weapon, is it flashing before your
eyes? This could cost my dad'slife. Yes, it was. Me
and my brother discussed this right after, Like my dad, he really shouldn't
have just jumped in and just grabbedhim because we didn't know what he had.
(23:18):
We just didn't know. Yeah,I was pretty worried, but once
I saw that he didn't really haveweapons, he wasn't reaching for anything,
he was just using his hands,I just kind of I was like okay,
and just looked at his hands tosee if he's gonna punch or scratch
or stuff like that. And Iread in the article that for the ten
(23:45):
or fifteen minute, however long ittook for the cops to arrive, he
was trying to bite your father,scratch your father, all sorts of things.
Yes, sir, So the manwasn't instinctively trying to fight. He
just his first thoughts, I believe, was just just get out, just
all there's so many witnesses. Igotta get out of here. But from
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there he kind of realized that hewas in a situation where he was pinned
to the ground and he couldn't getup from there, he just used his
hands to scratch. He bit myfather's arm and his neck. Hm.
Hm. That's gotta be tough towatch happening to your father, the patriarch
(24:30):
of the family. You're obviously avery close knit family, and and now
you've interrupted a crime. This man'sdoing a horrible thing. It's got to
be tough to watch dad being beingsubjected to this. I mean, uh,
it's not the respect you're used tohim being recorded Simon, can you
hold on for just this minute.I just I want to I want to
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pivot and talk about what you teachand what taekwondo teaches people in life.
Stay with us now the warehouse,so that says it's give them a star
sale, including Michael only a soundWarehouse seen the Dads Dodge? You know,
Ramona. I was going to tellyou you're stupid because that's probably the
only thing that South Korean you know, but actually I guess you're not,
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because it's probably the biggest South Koreansong this side of the world. Simon
growing up in the United States,your parents being first generation immigrants from South
Korea, how much of South Koreanculture would you say that you embrace and
(25:36):
feel like you identify with. Haveyou ever been to Soul? No?
I haven't. No, I haven't. I have never. I actually never
been in Korea in general. Well, my wife is from India, and
so she has a lot of relativeswho came over the generation before when Indians
first started coming to the United States, which which was in big numbers was
the late sixties and and accelerated inthe seventies, and so we have a
(26:00):
lot of relatives who were kind ofour peers, who were her cousins who
they grew up in this country,but it was it's an interesting lifestyle.
They call them abcds, which isAmerican born confused. THEACA they see is
a person from India. That's whatthey call themselves. And they described this
experience of growing up in India therethe inside of their home was India,
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and then going out into an Americanschool, and so it was these two
cultures and neither one really understood theother. Was it like that for you?
I don't believe so, only becausemy dad and mom they're like really
(26:44):
strict Koreans, and so in thehouse, I would imagine that's how Korean
people are taught in Korea. Sothey just they taught us very very strictly.
But that would suggest that you wereraised with very Korean values instead of
American values, or at least thevalues that you might see portrayed on television.
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I'm guessing you didn't watch a lotof television growing up, or if
you did, it was Star Teak. Oh yeah, yeah, I never
watched any I never really watched anytelevision, at least not those types of
things. I would just watch justlike Korean shows and the Korean owned shows,
(27:29):
like animation shows. So you doidentify a great deal with Korean culture,
yes, sir, I do.How well do you speak Korean?
I do. I do embrace theKorean culture, but I can't really I'm
(27:52):
not fluent in it. I dounderstand it, though. Do your parents
speak to you in Korean? Yes, sir. So my experience with the
Indian culture is that they will speakin whether it's Hindi or Telugu or Gudrati
or whatever the language is of thatfamily, and that the children at some
(28:12):
point start to kind of resist itbecause they don't want their peers to hear
them saying that, and they wantto have an Americanized accent. But they
retain the ability to hear it,and over a period of time they lose
the ability to speak it, andthen it gets to the point that they'd
feel awkward speaking it because they haven'tdone it in so long. Is that
what you would describe yours as?No? I wouldn't say like, I
(28:38):
guess we're not oka, like almostembarrassed. I wouldn't say that. My
father and my mother just always taughtme in my life that you're Korean,
be proud of it, be proudof who you are, And so I
just took that advice to heart andevery day. I didn't care if someone
(29:00):
called me for another thing, orif I spoke creat in front of my
parents. I wouldn't care if anyonewould just you know that nine. So
at the dojo, what is yourrole? Do you teach classes? Do
you assist your father, do youassist another family member? What do you
(29:21):
typically do? So I'm an instructor. I teach classes occasionally, but mostly
I helped my father just manage theclass. See if the kids are you
know, if they're not listening,I would just tell them in front of
them, listen to the master,and just maybe if they're out of place,
(29:45):
I would just put them back intheir spot. How old do you
think you were when you realized thatyou wanted to be involved professionally as you
grew into an adult in the familybusiness in the dojo. Yeah, I
first. Yeah, I first startedteaching when I was like twelve years old,
(30:11):
when I got my black belt,because my father realized, you know,
you have a black belt, nowyou have more responsibilities. So he
just kind of just put that trustin me into teaching the kids. But
when I took it seriously, itwas during the COVID years. Twenty nineteen,
when just everything was kind of shutdown, the business was not going
(30:33):
well, and so I just kindof wanted and needed to help my father.
So yeah, how do you thinkthat taekwondo has helped you personally as
a human being? Yeah? Imean I started when I was four years
old. I mean it was justin my everyday schedule. I loved this
(30:57):
sport. I love what it doesto me. It made me stronger,
both physically and mentally. I mean, it's just it taught me so many
things, respect, discipline and selfcontrol, perseverance, courtesy, integrity,
on which interestingly, are also Koreanvalues. Yes, sir, Yes,
(31:22):
sir, it's an amazing story.I mean, I suspect you won't feel
comfortable with this, but please sharewith Hannah and Hannah and Christian and your
mother and your father that this isstraight up heroism. I mean, you
(31:44):
you at least prohibited the continuation ofa sexual assault. You may have just
saved a life and many people.Horrifyingly, maybe most people would not have
reacted and taken the steps you did. They may have simply said I don't
(32:06):
want to be involved, that isnot my problem. And y'all didn't do
that. Do you mind if Igive the name of your dojo so that
people who are interested can can visit. Yes, sir, it's young On
Yes, young In Taekwondo. Yes, okay, y o n g dash
I n. But somebody in yourfamily, maybe it was you, knew
(32:28):
that that was too hard to remember. So the website is Taekwondo Cypress,
which is t a e k wO n d O Taekwondo Cypress. It's
in the sixty eight hundred block ofFriar Road, yong En Yo n g
dash I n Taekwondo. I hopeyou have more business than you can possibly
(32:50):
handle. I hope you win everyhonor, uh not just for your family,
so that the next family, whenconfronted with this terror scenario, will
respond exactly as you did. Simon, thank you very much for being our
guest, and thank your family fromall of us. Thank you, Sariah.
It has been an honor to beon your show. Yes, sir,
(33:14):
you hear that. Romo, honor, honor, Master Barry Barry.
You heard me.