The Chosun Dynasty that had been founded by Yi Sung Gye 519 years before, now became a part of Japan. Many of the pro-Japanese Koreans were rewarded with Japanese royal titles, were given large tracts of land, and became rich and powerful under Japanese rule. Segregated Korean and Japanese schools were established, with the Koreans receiving an inferior education. Many Koreans who grew up in that era still cannot read the Korean language.

After 1905, Japan's assertion of power was accomplished substantially at Korea's (and after 1931, at China's) expense. Nonetheless, Korean resistance to Japanese colonialism grew strong. The Japanese estimated that there were almost 70.000 Korean guerrillas in 1908 engaging Japanese forces in nearly 1,500 separate confrontations. Between 1905 and 1910, Korean people's resistance to Japanese occupation led to killing of at least 18,000 protesting Koreans, 12.000 of them from 1908 to 1910 alone.

Japanese Prince Hirobumi Ito (1841-1909), the first general resident in Korea, was assassinated in 1910 by Ahn Jung Gun (1879-1910), on the railway platform in Harbin (Manchuria). Ahn Jung Gun was captured and executed in Lui Shun prison on March 26, 1910. He is regarded as a hero in South Korea while North Korea thinks his act led the Japanese annexation of Korea in 1910.

Another attempted revolt was the disastrous Sam il Anti-Japanese March on March 1, 1919. Led by young students and Christians, nearly two million students, patriots, and Christians demonstrated their support of Korean identity with the "Korean Declaration of Independence." A Declaration of Independence, patterned after the American version, was read by teachers and civic leaders in tens of thousands of villages throughout Korea.

The native Koreans were not aware that the American President Wilson was not the quite the good person he claimed to be. America had years earlier agreed to Japan's annexation of Korea. The 33 organizers of the movement were mostly Christian idealists and had no experience in mass movement, so the March failed disastrously. The Japanese suppressed the movement with brutal force, firing into groups of Korean Christians singing hymns. Christian leaders were nailed to wooden crosses and were left to die a slow death "so that they can go to heaven." Mounted police beheaded young school children and police burned down churches. The official Japanese count of casualties include 553 killed, 1,409 injured, and 12,522 arrested, but the Korean estimates are much higher, over 7,500 killed, about 15,000 injured, and 45,000 arrested. As a part of the occupation, the Japanese government banned the practice of martial arts in Korea, but pursuit of martial arts by Koreans was not completely eliminated, thought it was restricted to the Japanese military.

Taekkyon existed in underground schools and was practiced by Korean citizens living abroad. One of the more common places for Koreans to go to learn martial arts was Japan, and several Koreans who were to become influential in the development of Taekwondo, began their martial art study in Japan.

Buddhism was dominant in the Silla Dynasty and in the following Koryo Dynasty, while Confucianism dominated the subsequent Joseon Dynasty. While Koreans may admire Koguryo for strength and Paekche for refinement, they seem to regard Silla's mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism (Taoism) and native shamanism as having been uniquely Korean.

Preface - Introduction - Ancient Beginnings - Korean Geography - Ancient Korea - Three Kingdoms Era - Subak and Sonbae - Subak and Hwarang - Koryo Dynasty - Chosen Dynasty - Korea Divided - Korean War (1950-1953) - Modern Taekwondo - Early Masters - Taekwondo Development - International Groups - Road to Olympics - Sport Taekwondo - Traditional versus Sport - Taekwondo in the United States - Taekwondo Today - References