T'ae-Kyon, the ancient name of Tae Kwon - Do, was as old as the history of the Hwarang - Do. There was a primitive acivity known as T'ae - Kyon (foot fighting) in the Silla Dynasty about 1,300 years ago.
Originally, Silla possessed the smallest territory when the ancient Korea was divided into three kingdoms, and she had to meet constant invasions from Koguryu in the north and Baekchae in the west.
From the time 500 A.D. Koguryo became so strong that it made the Silla Dynasty untenable. Therefore, King Chin - Hung at his 37th year of reign called up the strong and patriotic youths throughout the country and formed a strong organisation called Hwarang - Do (a kind of military organisation) to meet the national crisis.
This group respected the royalty, honour and spirit of the warrior while they enjoyed poems, music and morality, and travelled to noted mountains and big rivers with the purpose of body - spirit training. Consequently, General Kim Yoo - Sin, the leader of Hwarang - Do, unified all the territories in 668 A.D.
According to Mr Song Duk - Ki, who was one of the veterans of T'ae - Kyon at the end of the Yi Dynasty, this art had been developed and taken shape.
During the Japanese occupation, after the Yi Dynasty, many techniques were introduced from both China and Japan. The practice of martial arts were largely banished by the ruling Japanese, however, several masters kept ancient Korean arts alive in relative secrecy. Soon after the liberation in 1945, many Korean martial arts masters returned home from exile bringing with them knowledge of foreign martial arts (primarily Japanese Karate). Many ''KWAN'S'' or schools were founded at this time, teaching techniques from Karate, Ju - Jitsu & Judo together with the spectacular & powerful kicking techniques of the indigenous Korean martial arts.
After the Japanese were forced to quit Korea at the end of the Second World War there was a national movement to restore Korean traditions & identity to the country. It was decided at this time to unify all the martial arts schools under one name. In 1955 a special board of many martial arts masters, historians and prominent leaders was formed to solve this problem.
In 1955 at the session for the naming, the term worded ''Tae'' and ''Kwon'' (submitted by General Choi Hong Hi) was chosen among many other suggestions.
Tae Kwon - Do was officially inaugurated on 11th April 1955. Most of the original ''KWANS'' agreed and the name Tae Kwon - Do was adopted , with only a small minority opting to retain their original names.
Once the name Tae Kwon - Do was adopted it was decided to spread this new art around the world. The International Tae - Kwon - Do Federation (ITF) was formed when many Tae Kwon - Do masters left Korea and set up new homes in various countries around the world with a view to establish Tae Kwon - Do to the United Kingdom in 1967.
Today many groups operate their own Tae Kwon - Do schools either as large associations or as small independent schools. One of these groups is Global Tae Kwon - Do International.