It is often said that there are as many histories of Tae Kwon Do as there are people to tell them. The roots of Tae Kwon Do extend back to ancient times, when records were kept in paintings on walls and stories passed down from family to family. As such, the history of Tae Kwon Do has undergone as many transformations and refinements as the martial art itself. While reading this history, one should keep in mind that this is not the history of Tae Kwon Do, merely a history.

In 1966, General Choi founded the International Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF) with support from Vietnam, West Germany, Malasia, Turkey, Italy, United Arab Republic, Taiwan and the United States.

In 1971, President Chung Hee Park of South Korea announced that Tae Kwon Do would become the national sport of Korea. However, in 1972, due to political reasons, General Choi exiled himself from Korea and moved the headquarters of ITF to Toronto, CA. Then, in 1973, Kukkiwon was founded in South Korea. This became the nationally recognized headquarters of Tae Kwon Do. Under Kukkiwon, the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF) was founded to oversee the competition aspects of Tae Kwon Do. Both WTF and Chung Do Kwan align with Kukkiwon under GM Wook-Kyu Uhm, the 3rd Quajanim of Chung Do Kwan, who is currently President of both Kukkiwon and Chung Do Kwan. These organizations exist to this day.