Taekwon-Do origins date back thousands of years.  A mural on the wall of a tomb built in the Kingdom of Koguryo (37BC) shows two figures in Taekwon-Do stances and hand motions.  The ancient martial art called Tae Kyon lasted until the 1900s.  During the occupation of Korea by the Japanese, the practice of Tae Kyon was banned.  With the occupation, Tae Kyon barely survived and in 1945, after the Japanese left Korea, the old traditions were revived.

 

Soon after the liberation of Korea in 1945, General Choi, Hong Hi was named as a founding member of the new South Korean Armed Forces.  There, he was able to refine and develop new martial techniques, and have these evolve into a new martial art - Taekwon-Do.  In 1955, the name Tae Kwon Do was coined by General Choi, Hong Hi. Taekwon-Do can be broken down into the following definitions - Tae = foot or smash with foot, Kwon = hand or smash with hand and Do = art or way.  General Choi developed many of the modern techniques which were refined and tested in the Korean armed forces.

 

Taekwon-do is now the Korean martial national art of self-defense.  Although its history spans back thousands of years into ancient systems of self-defense, it has been blended with modern day physics into one of the most powerful martial arts in existence.  General Choi passed away in 2002, while still active as President of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF), the international governing body for traditional Taekwon-Do.  General Choi is recognized in the Encyclopedia Brittanica as the founder of modern day Taekwon-Do.