Tae Soo Do was an early name for taekwondo. As the early kwans were coming together in the 1950s to develop a unified style of martial art for Korea (see: Taekwondo History), one of the questions that needed to be answered was what to call the new martial art. Some of the kwans had previously used the name Kong Soo Do as the name of their style; essentially, however, this name simply means "Korean karate". The kwans needed a name that reflected all their styles however.