About TKD

Taekwon-Do is the Korean martial art of Self-Defense. Taekwon-Do can be interpreted as "the way of the foot and hand."  The name was coined by the founder of Taekwon-do, the late General Choi Hong Hi, when he founded the style in 1955.  General Choi was the Grandmaster and President of the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF).

Taekwon-Do was founded by General Choi Hong Hi, as an officer in the Korean army.  His background included study of Taekyon, an ancient Korean martial art, as well as Japanese Karate (learned during the Japanese occupation of Korea).  Soon after the liberation of Korea in 1945, General Choi was given a privileged position as a founding member of the new South Korean Armed Forces.  Through his past studies and the training of the Korean army, he was able to refine and develop new techniques, systematically, and have these evolve into a new martial art - Taekwon-Do in which General Choi named.

In 1965, Gen. Choi received approval from the South Korean Government to declare Taekwon-Do as Korea's National Martial Art and was the president of the first Taekwon-Do Organization - Korean Taekwon-Do Association (KTA).  On March 22, 1966, General Choi founded the International Taekwon-Do Federation (ITF) in Seoul, Korea, with the consent of nine countries.  As a modern martial art, Taekwon-Do is a refinement of centuries of martial art legacies.  Drawing heavily from the 1,500 year old art of TaeKyon, an ancient Korean foot fighting and Karate.

Founded in 1973, the mandate of the USTF is to teach and promote Taekwon-Do according to the guidance of the late General Choi Hong Hi, the originator of Taekwon-Do.