Ancient Chinese marital art systems were practiced in Korea for thousands of years before the Japanese occupation, which began in 1910 and ended in 1945. However, all modern Korean martial arts are primarily based on Okinawan/Japanese martial arts systems which were taught in Korea during the occupation, including JuJitsu, Judo and Karate.

Writings on Tang Soo Do history almost always portray the art as a unique system of Korean-only culture, established over the long periods of Korean history from all the way back in the Three Kingdoms era. However, Tang Soo Do's foremost influence came from Japanese Karate that was introduced into Korea during the Japanese Occupation of Korea during the early 1900's.

Grandmaster Hwang Kee is one of the founders of the traditional Korean martial art, Tang Soo Do. Tang Soo Do is the Korean pronunciation for the original Japanese word "Karate." The original Japanese translation for 'karate' was "China Hand Way." However, during the first half of the 20th century, all martial arts in Japan had to be formally approved and sanctioned by an organization called the "Budo Society." When an Okinawan, Gichin Funakoshi, provided a demonstration of "Okinawa Te'" to the Budo Society in 1921, Funakoshi was directed by them to change the literal translation for the Chinese characters for karate from 'China Hand Way' to "Empty Hand Way" as a condition for being allowed to teach his art in Japan. At this time in history, the Japanese were at war with the Chinese and were occupying Manchuria and Korea. These conditions were imposed by the Budo Society as a result of the nationalistic fervor in Japan at the time. Funakoshi was also directed to convert the Chinese names for the "Kata" he was teaching to Japanese names, as well. When Kee officially founded his art in Korea, Kee used the original translation for karate; China (Tang) Hand (Soo) Way (Do). He also retained the Chinese names for the Kata.

During the Japanese occupation, many Korean nationals studied Funakoshi's version of Okinawate', which he later named Shotokan. At the end of the Second World War in 1945 and the defeat of the Japanese, the senior Korean martial artists who had been training with the Japanese, established their own organizations which they called the "Kwans" or "martial art schools". These organizations, included the Chung Do Kwan, Song Moo Kwan, Chang Moo Kwan, Yun Moo Kwan.and several others The Moo Duk Kwan (Mu Deok Gwan) ultimately became the largest and most powerful of the Kwans.

Hwang Kee's personal martial art lineage is steeped in mystery. Kee reportedly studied Taek Kyon (an ancient Korean kicking art), Tai Chi and some types of Kung Fu with Yang Kuk Jin in China. Kee also claimed that he learned the philosophy of Okinawan Karate from Gichin Funakoshi's contemporary books on the subject, but Kee's connection with Shotokan is far deeper than that, as evidenced by the fact that most of the "Forms" of Tang Soo Do are identical to the "Kata" of Shotokan. At some point Kee trained with Won Kyuk Lee at the Chung Do Kwan, gaining the equivalent of a green belt. While Lee claims Hwang Kee was his student, Kee disputes Lee's claim; only acknowledging Yang Kuk Jin as his teacher. While the exact reasons for Hwang Kee's rather confusing personal martial art history is not entirely clear, Kee must have learned the advanced Shotokan kata beyond the green belt level from someone other than Lee. By 1960, Kee's Moo Duk Kwan (Mu Deok Gwan) had risen to become biggest and most powerful Kwan in Korea.

By the early '60's, the Korean Government decided to commission a Korean General, Choi Hong Hi, in their effort to distinguish Korean martial arts from Japanese martial arts. General Choi was given the task of unifying all of the Kwans into one single Korean organization. Hwang Kee delivered his Moo duk Kwan (Mu Deok Gwan) to the newly-formed Tae Kwon Do Federation, as he was ordered to by his government. However, when the Tae Kwon Do movement started evolving into a sporting organization with its chief focus on competition, Hwang Kee withdrew the Moo Duk Kwan (Mu Deok Gwan) from the Tae Kwon Do Federation. He was harassed and legally persecuted for doing so. In 1965 and again in 1966, Grand Master Hwang Kee won two legal battles with his government that would allow him to run his organization without interference. He worked to rebuild his organization after so many students left him to unify under Tae Kwon Do. Hwang Kee sent emissaries around the world to establish Tang Soo Do worldwide. Over the ensuing four decades, there have been a succession of fractures and spin off organizations. A small fraction of those forced into the Tae Kwon Do movement also won legal battles and broke off from the newly-formed Tae Kwon Do movement to establish Tae Kwon Do Moo Duk Kwan (Mu Deok Gwan), which is still practiced today. Tae Kwon Do Moo Duk Kwan is almost exactly the same as Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan and is completely different from all other types of Tae Kwon Do, particularly those styles that fall under the ITF and WTF.

In summary, Tang Soo Do is the name of Hwang Kee's art which is also known as Soo Bak Do. Contrary to popular belief, Hwang Kee is not the creator of Tang Soo Do - Great Grandmaster Won Kuk Lee, who studied with Shotokan founder Gichin Funakoshi, was the very first in Korea after World War II to coin Tang Soo Do and established the very first Kwon in Korea after the Japanese occupation - the Chung Do Kwon. Hwang Kee, a couple of years afterwards in accordance with Won Kuk Lee adopted the term Tang Soo Do as well. Moo Duk Kwan or Mu Deok Gwan (Military Way of Stopping Conflict) was the name of Kee's organization when he first started teaching Tang Soo Do in Korea. Taken together, the art and organization Hwang Kee originally founded is Tang Soo Do Moo Duk Kwan or Tang Soo Do Mu Deok Gwan. Translated, it means "Karate Military Way of Stopping Conflict". Tae Kwon Do is based on Tang Soo Do. Tang Soo Do is based on Japanese Shotokan. Tang Soo Do combines the advanced kicking techniques contained in the ancient Korean and Chinese-derived martial arts systems with the strong stances, hand techniques and Kata of Japanese Shotokan.