"Nice try, Pupil Sangok. A couple of more years and you might be ready to fight a sea sponge."
— Master Pakku chastising Sangok in "The Siege of the North, Part 1".
Pupil Sangok was an awkward teenager and a student of Master Pakku's waterbendingclasses. An idle pupil, he was often caught daydreaming or wishing he was playing ice marbles instead of honing his waterbending techniques.[1]
During 100 ASC, shortly before the Siege of the North was executed, Sangok and Katara were matched up for a practice duel by their waterbending teacher, Pakku. Judging by his nervous expression, it was evident that Sangok feared Katara's prodigious waterbending abilities. The spar began when Sangok formed and hurled a sphere of snow at Katara, who effortlessly melted and repelled it, freezing him and thus bringing the match to a swift end. Displeased with Sangok's performance, Pakku sarcastically expressed his displeasure before releasing him from the ice.[2]
The name "Sangok" (三個) literally translates as "Third Individual" in Chinese or what the production business calls Extra #3. The word "sangok" could also be a variation of the Japanese word "sango" for "coral", which would make sense in conjunction with Master Pakku's comment about him one day being ready to fight a sea sponge.