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The green belt symbolizes a seed sprouting and growing towards the sky. This is where strength in blocks, attacks, and tenets start to become apparent. This begins the second year of Tae Kwon Do in the Pure Energy System. One year of development in the making is what instructors will witness during a light green belt testing. The majority of the basic techniques that are taught to a student are taught in the first year of Tae Kwon Do. The rest of the time spent in Tae Kwon Do is spent refining, and improving basic techniques as well as learning more advanced techniques. Students should also be comfortable with preforming spinning kicks, and simple aerial techniques like the jumpimg front kick or round kick. A dark green belt should show an improvement while preforming more difficult techniques. That is why the dark green belt testing includes a demonstration of techniques by the student.
Yul Gok hyung ( hyung meaning form ) is used for a dark green belt testing. Master Yi of the Yi dynasty used Yul Gok as a pen name. Yul Gok wrote many books on philosophy, Confucianism, and public administrations. Yul Gok was instrumental in the improvement of the social policy within the Yi dynasty. He recognized weak points in the goverment system and began to suggest reforms which would later strengthen those weaknesses. Yul Gok died at the age of 48 recognized as a great scholar.
Yul Gok contains 38 movements and begins to incorporate elbow strikes, back kicks, and a short hop with a backfist. This form proves to be more difficult than the earlier forms through angled blocks and kicks, and the introduction of more demanding stances than preformed before.
The testing for a dark green belt consists of Yul Gok, two steps, free sparring, and a demostration of more advanced basic techniques.