Chapter 15: Modern Taekwondo

It was not until Korea's liberation in 1945 that its own fighting arts finally took root and began to flourish.

Near the end of WW II, Americans invaded Korea to push back the Japanese. Japan finally surrendered unconditionally and, on August 15, 1945, Korea was finally liberated from Japanese colonial rule.

After liberation from the Japanese, the Korean people vowed never to allow another government to control their country again. Masters who had studied martial arts in other countries returned to Korea and blended these styles with Taekkyon to form new styles as methods to protect not only individual Koreans but also the country itself.

After the war, most martial arts schools in Korea were using the name karate and were using Japanese terminology to describe techniques. They used Japanese patterns and training methods. There were no techniques or terminology that resembled Taekkyon. This was a problem until after the Korean War when nationalistic and political motivations led to an effort to portray the martial arts that had developed in Korean as having ancient Korean origins.