History
Hapkido was born in Korea after the Second World War. Choi Yong-sul, who had lived in Japan and learned Daito-ryu aiki-jujutsu, returned in 1945 and began teaching; his student Ji Han-jae and others added kicks and strikes and gave the art the name hapkido in the late 1950s.
The name is written with the same characters as aikido and means "the way of coordinated power". Hapkido mixes joint locks, throws and pressure points with powerful Korean kicks, and it is widely taught to police and military in South Korea.