GM Lee Won Kuk started his school in 1944 during the occupation and used the kanji of karate-do with the Korean interpretation it became Tang Soo Do.
Here is a cut from wikipedia that explaines the characters, not the best sorce I know, but it is close.
Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도 is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters 唐手道. In Japanese, these characters mean "karate-do", but in contemporary Japanese karate-do is written with different characters (空手道. The Japanese pronunciation of both sets of characters is the same, but the newer version means "Way of the Empty Hand" rather than "Way of the T'ang (China) Hand", although it could also be interpreted as "Way of the China Hand".
As for other non-MDK Org.s out there they are very very few, but there are some JiDoKwan schools and one other that I have heard of but I haven't found them yet.
Take Care,
Butch
Here is a cut from wikipedia that explaines the characters, not the best sorce I know, but it is close.
Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도 is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters 唐手道. In Japanese, these characters mean "karate-do", but in contemporary Japanese karate-do is written with different characters (空手道. The Japanese pronunciation of both sets of characters is the same, but the newer version means "Way of the Empty Hand" rather than "Way of the T'ang (China) Hand", although it could also be interpreted as "Way of the China Hand".
As for other non-MDK Org.s out there they are very very few, but there are some JiDoKwan schools and one other that I have heard of but I haven't found them yet.
Take Care,
Butch