Its a Korean martail art. Its very easy to learn, and great for your heart.

It is a Korean martial art. It is a simplified "game" created so that soldiers can safely play to keep fit and ready for real combat. It is based on a mix of Hapkido, Hwrangdo, and Tang Soo Do. Since its development, it has become the world's most popular martial art.

I'm a 2nd-degree black belt in TKD. It did originate in Korea, with roots over a thousand years ago and lost in the mists of time, and was sort of standardized after Korea regained its independence from Japan in 1945. It's more kick-oriented than most variants of karate, with a variety of high and spinning kicks that probably wouldn't be too helpful in real-life situations. It is a lot of fun, great aerobic exercise and great for building flexibility. You'll hear people belittle it as a game and worse, which is insulting to the students. It usually is taught with tournament-style sparring, with no punching to the head or kicking below the belt, and assuming your partner will do the same and do the stand-back-and-spar thing. I can see that if you were really to have to defend yourself, some people might assume that the bad guy would follow the rules, which would probably end badly. However, in any school, there would be guys whom you'd have no doubt could really defend themselves, and I don't know if I'd ever bet against my 67-year-old Korean Grand Master in a fight. However, that aside, is the primary reason for taking martial arts to be a street fighter? In that case, Krav Maga or other disciplines might be better... shop around. But not everybody wants to be a tough guy who goes around imagining himself getting into fights and sizing up guys on the street. If you want to improve your physical and emotional self-confidence (not just in a fight situation, but in business and social encounters too), improve your focus and concentration, learn to achieve goals, learn to persevere, learn that you can do things you wouldn't have thought you could, TKD is excellent. That in addition to the aerobic health and flexibility. Atreadia said here that it's "very easy to learn", and Takei-Shihan has said the same, but as an assistant instructor for years I can tell you that some people seem to be naturals right off the bat, but many others seem to have trouble, at least at first, putting a few moves together, punching or blocking correctly, or doing other moves. It just depends on you, but, as I tell all new students, don't compare yourself to other students - just do the absolute best you can for the whole lesson.