Hapkido is a self defense combat martial art designed to take down an opponent in a street fight or a realistic righting situation. It's is a South Korean martial art that was created in response to Japanese Aikido fighters, so the Koreans could beat them. read more
Karate is a hard style martial art, with the strikes and blocks in a very rigid, blocky format instead of hapkido's natural “flowing and redirecting” style. It's commonly used in competitions and, while it's much better than not knowing how to fight at all, it thrives better in a competition setting. read more
Hapkido often spars differently than TKD, if it spars at all, and I believe some schools do spar with leg kicks. Some even do Judo-style randori. That said, I guess I'm just surprised that he wouldn't try something, even given the unfamiliarity of the technique. read more