o.k. i'm probly going to tick off every taekwondoka here, but sae la vie (french for that's life).taekwondo was orginally made by general choi of the south korean army as the disarmed form of combat (a heavly modified version is taught for much the same reason to the armys of most countrys including the u.s.). General Choi was acctuly born in the north, but fled to the south, being himself democratic. when japan took over korea in WWII the japanese goverment out lawed native martial arts, driving most of them to the break of extensoin, and completly destroying tae kwon according to legend. as a way to 'japanese' the koreans, the japanese goverment forced many people to learn japanese martial arts, namely Shotokan Karate-do. when the japanese were forced to leave korea they the karate they had forced the koreans to learn. then when korea split into north and south the southern general used Shotokan as a basis for a knew style. and to give it lagitimicy to his country men he saide it was derived from tae kwon, which he saide the japanese had destroyed. this was not true, in fact tae kwon is still in fact taught, but very few taekwondoka would ever knew. why? since tea kwon is really only taught in north korea. taekwondo became a very well know stlyeand many people began to slack off on their training and taught what they often refered to as "inproved taekwondo". know then what is really traditional teakwondo? well, outside south korea (since it is a crime in at least south korea to teach taekwondo in the north), nothing really. in south korea, taekwondo. they don't really have the so called improved, or combat style. so why do i say that alot people will get ticked off for saying this? well for any none taekwondoka, most taekwondoka get ticked off if you argue with the lineage of either themselves to general choi, or their stlye to tae kwon. that is why (forgot this part) taekwondo in korea looks differnit, and you also donn't see alot of korean taekwondoka in the oylimpics, since when they spar it's full contact. in fact you don't score a point unless the force of your kick knocks your opponent back 4 inches, or on their butt, i beleive. know the contact is full and you have to move your opponent back so far, i'm just not shure how far.
, but at the end of the day, all we can hope to do is give others a glimpse into our own perspectives. 
