The kingdom of Silla was founded on the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula under the circumstances of no immediate threat from outside, but along with the birth of paekje kingdom on its west flank and the start of invasions by Koguryo from the north, Silla was impelled to arm itself with development of martial arts.

In fact, "hwarangdo" is the typical example of Silla's martial arts, which is an assimilation of Koguryo's "sonbae" systems. The members of the youth group of hwarando were well trained with the senses of filial piety, loyalty to the kingdom and sacrificial devotion to society to become important personalities for the rein of kingdom. Notable among them were Kim Yu-sin and Kim Chun-chu that made a definite contribution to the unification of those three kingdoms.

The chronicle of old Chosun described the life of hwarangs, members of hwarangdo: "hwarang were selected by the kingdom through contests and, after selection, they lived together in a group, indulging themselves in learning, exercising subak(old form of Taekwondo), fencing and horse-riding, and sometimes they enjoyed various games of communities, working on emergency aids and construction of fortresses and roads, and they were always ready to sacrifice their lives at the time of war."

Hwarangs were particularly influenced by the Buddhistic disciplines and therefore the bronze statues of a warrior (a man of great physical strength) currently exhibited at the kyongju museum clearly indicates that martial arts were practiced at temples by showing a strong man's bare-hand defensive and offensive stances.

Especially the shape of a fist shown on the statue of kumgang yoksa(diamond warrior : a strong man) exactly resembles that of a "jungkwon"(right fist) in the contemporary term of Taekwondo. The statue also shows today's "pyon jumok " (flat fist) and the use of legs, which are seen in today's Taekwondo.

It is really noticeable that in that Silla epoch the terms of "subak" (hand techniques) and "taekkyon" appear together, signifying that both hand and foot techniques were used in martial arts as shown in today's Taekwondo.