[1] Wrestling, called ssireum, is the oldest form of ground fighting in Korea, while Subak was the upright martial art of foot soldiers.

Besides being used to train soldiers, both of these traditional martial arts were also popular among villagers during festivals for dance, mask, acrobatic, and sport fighting.

In 1935, paintings that showed martial arts were found on the walls of royal tombs believed to have been built for Goguryeo kings sometime between the years 3 and 427 AD.

During one of the battles, the Koreans learned about a martial art manual titled Ji Xiao Xin Shu (紀效新書), written by the Chinese military strategist Qi Jiguang.

[citation needed] In 1899, Emperor Gojong, with the encouragement of the visiting Prince Heinrich of Prussia, established gungdo as an official sport.

Other modern styles such as Tae Soo Do and Hwa Rang Do, which have a sizeable presence in the US and Europe, are almost unknown in Korea, as the founders relocated to the US and focused on operations in the US.

The art is characterized by powerful hand strikes and kicks, which are used for unarmed self-defense or combat, or in organized sport competitions such as the Olympic Games.

Taekwondo primarily focuses on fast, powerful, kicking and punching techniques, which are blended with sophisticated footwork, jumps, blocks, and avoiding actions.

In recent years, some Taekwondo styles have begun to incorporate a limited number of joint locks, throws, and ground defenses into their curricula, to keep pace with the needs of modern society and the reality of contemporary self-defense.

These skills encompass all major martial categories: strikes, kicks, blocks, avoiding movements, holds, joint locks, chokes, throws, breakfalls, tumbling, ground fighting, weapons, meditation, and healing.

[18] The reflex bow had been the most important weapon in Korean wars with Chinese dynasties and nomadic peoples, recorded from the 1st century BCE.

Until the Imjin wars, the tactical superiority of the matchlock arquebus became apparent, despite its slow rate of fire and susceptibility to wet weather.