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Community service-oriented martial arts studio opens in Flushing

A young child at KOREA Taekwondo breaks a board to symbolize bad habits.
Photos courtesy of KOREA Taekwondo

KOREA Taekwondo invited families and young martial arts masters to the grand opening of its first martial arts studio on Saturday in Flushing.

Taekwondo students, their parents and community leaders participated in the celebration by setting personal goals, after which they broke boards symbolizing their promise to break bad habits. The studio, located at 130-30 31st Ave., offers classes for adults, children as young as 3½ years old and joint family learning sessions.

Regina Im, executive director of KOREA Taekwondo, said that families will have happy memories of the demonstration and that martial arts are a beneficial skill for children to learn.

“We teach taekwondo in New York City public schools and at our dojang [studio]. We do this because we want to inspire, guide and educate our children,” Im said. “Our goal is to help improve our students’ physical, mental and spiritual being through self-discovery, so that they will develop the peaceful mind required for a happy life.”

John Choe, executive director of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, and Christine Colligan, co-president of Korean American Parents Association, were available at the event to speak with parents on the commitment to civic engagement that KOREA Taekwondo students learn in conjunction with their martial arts training.

In addition to physical education and martial arts training, the company also offers a range of Korean cultural classes and participates in service projects to clean up local streets and parks, beautify the neighborhood and reach out to local seniors.

Choe—a recently registered student at the studio—said that teaching children the discipline involved in martial arts is an effective way to instill positive values and focus in them. He believed that KOREA Taekwondo was the best studio in the city because of the community service ethic taught in its programs.

“It’s part of their DNA to serve the community,” Choe said.

Although this is its first storefront studio, KOREA has been teaching students in programs within the New York City public school system and other educational outlets since 2008. A total of 15,000 children have attended physical education classes with KOREA Taekwondo, including Flushing elementary schools P.S. 242, P.S. 163, P.S. 154 and P.S. 201.