According to legend 5000 years ago, Korea was founded by Tan-Gun. Korea has been invaded many times by foreign countries yet the people still managed to maintain their own unique cultural identity.

Approximately 2000 years ago Korea divided into three kingdoms: Kogoryo, Paekgi and Silla. During this period, the Tang Dynasty was in power in China. The Silla Kingdom sent a corp of elite youths (the Hwarangdo) to China to study and learn martial arts. The Hwarangdo was originally a unique system of training young people in academic and military skills. Hwarangdo means "flower of youth corps." It should be noted that the "do" (in Hwarangdo) stands for group rather than "Do" which means "way or path". The young men in this class were educated in the finer arts as well as the martial arts. Their guiding principles were: loyalty, respect for ones parents , trustworthiness, honesty, courage and justice. These men of virtue were often selected to serve as statesmen and military leaders. With China's help Silla defeated the other two kingdoms and unified Korea (669 AD). Martial arts were very popular at the time

During the Japanese occupation of Korea in the 1930's and 40's, the practicing of martial arts was restricted. Many practitioners took refuge in the mountains to preserve their art. After World War Two many different schools of martial arts were formed. In 1955 a committee was formed to choose a name to call the Korean martial arts of hand and foot. The term "Tae-Kwon-Do" which means way of hand and foot was officially accepted. There are many styles of TaeKwonDo.

Tang Soo Do traces its roots to Moo Duk Kwan. Moo Duk Kwan means: "school of martial virtue."

The similarities in the martial arts suggests a common origin. When examined, martial arts from around the world often share the same mechanics. The Shotokan karate of Okinawa and the Moo-Duk-Kwan TaeKwonDo of Korea are very similar in techniques and forms. This is because from 1909 to1945 Korea was occupied by Japan where the Shotokan system was very popular. General Ro of Korea was a student of Gichin Funakoshi of Okinawa. He went on to teach Sung Moo Kwon, a form of Korean Martial Arts later to be called TaeKwonDo.

The Okinawan/ Japanese Martial Arts trace their origins to the Chinese art of Open hand or "China Hand". To make the art more popular to the people of Okinawa the name was changed to" Okinawa te" or "Okinawan Hand". Gichin Funakoshi moved to Japan in 1922 and taught the art to the Japanese. He coined the name "Karate" or "empty hand" to be a generic term acceptable to people of all races. Korean Martial Arts also trace there origins to the"China Hand."

Tang - Tang Dynasty of China

Soo - Hand

Do - Way of life