Taekwondo Facts

The martial arts were practiced in Korea over 2000 years ago, based on earlier martial arts forms from China, Japan and Okinawa.  In 1955, a group of leading Korean martial artists came together, unified their various art forms under a single style of hand and feet fighting and named their style Taekwondo.  In 1956, Jhoon Rhee brought Taekwondo to the Unites States. In 1972, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) unified most of the Taekwondo organizations under one governing body, and in the last 30 years have developed it into one of the most effective styles of unarmed self-defense in the world today. 

In the Korean military, only those soldiers with Kukkiwon Dan Certificates could be appointed as drill instructors.  Similarly, applicants to the National Police Agency and the Ministry of National Defense would earn additional points for 2^nd or 3^rd dan and even more should they have reached the 4^th dan level.