taekwondo1-10, Exercise 1: Applying the checklist

Model answer:

(a) "Taekwondo is a 2,000-year-old Korean art."
What is claimed: that the martial art itself, not just the word or an organisation, is about 2,000 years old. Likely owner: promotional or national-heritage accounts; the Taekwondo article says some views, supported in later years by the Korean government, are traditionalist. Evidence: the Taekwondo article says the art was developed in the 1940s and 1950s by people with karate and Chinese martial arts experience, and calls revisionism ("rooted in karate") the prevailing theory; older Korean traditions (subak, taekkyeon, the Muye Dobo Tongji) are documented but with no unbroken lineage. Verdict: the claim confuses the older traditions with the modern art.

(b) "Taekkyeon is the ancestor of modern taekwondo."
Claimed: a lineage. Owner: "the taekwondo establishment" (Taekkyeon article). Evidence for: the name was chosen as closest to the pronunciation of taekkyon; the Taekkyeon article says it influenced the name and conceptualisation. Against: taekkyon associations explicitly deny any link and the article says the two have little in common; Choi recanted his taekkyeon-training story. Verdict: name link documented; technical lineage disputed.

(c) "More than a hundred million people practise taekwondo."
Claimed: a total of practitioners. Owner: unknown; the number is not in the articles read. Evidence: the sources give 213 WT member nations (May 2023) and a 1973 championship of 200 athletes from 17 countries; no practitioner count. Verdict: unsupported by the course's sources; ask who counted, in what year, and what counted as a practitioner (and which families are included).

Sources: the Wikipedia articles cited in Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9.