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Why are punches to the head forbidden?
I was just wondering why WTF (World Taekwondo Federation) sparring says "no" to me connecting my fist with my opponent's head. It can't be because its damaging to the brain can it? We already wear helmets and kicks to the head (which is almost instant knockout) is allowed. So what is the reason?
Not trying to diss taekwondo or anything, I practise taekwondo too. Just curious!
Thanks 
P.S. 10 points for best answer~
There isn't anything published that I can find. However, it is often asked, and my answer is my opinion that I always provide when asked.
My opinion lies in history. As a result of the Japanese occupation of Korea (and subsequent liberation), the Koreans wanted to distance their martial art from the Japanese styles. In order for the Koreans to adopt a completely Korean-esque martial art, which at the time not too long ago, maybe, 30 years or so, looked a lot like Shotokan Karate, they decided to change a few things. One was to change the forms to something different. Another was in the emphasis of kicking, rather than punching. I form my opinion on this because of my study of the various kwan founders.
There were 12 prominent kwans 30 years ago (and they still exist today even if some are nothing more than a fraternity), and depending on your historical source, anywhere from 5 to 9 of them had a hand in some way of uniting and forming the WTF. These kwan founders had significent (some sole) study in other martial arts, from kung fu, aikido, karate, tai chi, judo, and others.
If you compare the traditional kwan practices today with today's WTF, you will see significant differences in the way they perform their techniques, as well as the way they spar (some don't spar at all - opting to focus on the self-defense elements of the art).
The Koreans, I believe, decided that the kicks offered a better range of attack with it's stronger muscles, and so to prevent a sparring match from looking like a boxing match or a kickboxing match, they decided to dispense with the punch. Most importantly, they didn't want their matches to look like Shotokan Karate, which can look very similar when you factor in the hand techniques to the head.
Various rules existed and changed back and forth within WTF rules over the years as to whether to allow the punch. In some stages of history, the punch was forbidden. In others, only a reverse punch with perfect form. Today, it is allowed, but only to the trunk, and then only with perfect form (which must knock the opponent out or off balance), though it can be executed only with the forward or reverse punch, and only with the rear knuckes (no back fist, chops, ridges, etc are allowed).
As a result of this, you can easily spot a WTF "player" who keeps his leading hand down, and his rear hand up. And their stances are nearly always a widened walking stance - sort of a cross between a walking stance and a back stance. Because of the faster punches, boxers (or any punch-to-the-head sport) need to keep their hands up. But in TKD, there's never a worry of that - in fact, they have to worry more about a mid-section strike more than a kick to the head. There are a great many KO's in TKD as a result of this posture, but I'm guessing it's a calculated risk many take to avoid the more common min-section kick.
So to answer your question, I think it is because the Koreans (more specifically, the ones in WTF) wanted to keep their art more distinct from Karate, and this was one way they came up with to achieve this. Not all of the kwans did this, and you will note that they will allow punches to the head (and also, their styles more resemble Karate than WTF does). And for them, they are content.
Note also, this deviation from punching to the head is not a good self-defense tactic - one should be able to strike any part of the opponent's body with any part of the defender's body. But as we all know, WTF is nearly devoid of self-defense tactics, and so, there really isn't any reason - for them - to want to punch to the head.
Note also, for all of the changes WTF did to emphasize kicking, you'll note a strange absence of kicks in the forms (either before their changes (palgwe) or afterwards (taeguek)); generally you'll see a front kick here and a side kick there. In Keumgang (2nd dan form), there are NO kicks. So clearly, forms were not at the forefront of their thinking, methinks.
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