Influence outside Japan : Korea

Due to past conflict between Korea and Japan, most notably during the Japanese occupation in the 20th century, the influence of karate in Korea is a contentious issue.

From 1910 until 1939, many Koreans migrated to Japan and were exposed to Japanese martial arts. After regaining independence from Japan, many Korean martial arts schools were founded by masters with training in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean martial arts.

Won Kuk Lee, a Korean student of Funakoshi founded the first Korean Karate school in 1944-5 called Chung Do Kwan. Similar "Kwan" schools cropped up in the late 1940s.