By Michael Morton
After all, the program's instructor claimed as much in a flier he distributed outside the child's Little Neck school as he drummed up new customers for his business, J. Kim's Martial Art/Focus Academy, in Little Neck.
But while his son did receive almost a year's worth of satisfactory instruction, Peter said that classes have not been held since August and contended that the owner and teacher, whom he identified simply as J. Kim, owed Peter and other parents hundreds of dollars.
Kim, who said in a phone interview this week that his first name is Jim and that he lives in Flushing, acknowledged that his clients have contracts that he has not yet fulfilled but denied any misdoing.
He said that he temporarily closed his tae kwon do school after some bad business decisions and that he remained in financial trouble. He also said he is still trying to find a new rental space for his school, whose former location at 245-02 Horace Harding Blvd. still bears the name of his academy but is now occupied by a church.
Peter and other parents said that while Kim did not return their phone calls for several months beginning in November, he had suddenly started contacting them again last week.
“He told us he's been looking for a place and that he was in a lot of financial trouble,” said George Peter's sister-in-law, who asked to be identified only as Dr. Liz and who signed up her son, now 6, in June for one year's instruction at $750.
Kim also told her he planned to open a new school and that “if you could wait until March, everything will be OK,” she said.
According to Peter, Kim told him and other parents in August that his landlord had declined to renew his lease and he was planning to rent a new space occupied by a clothing store, Sabrina's Children's Boutique, on the corner of Marathon Parkway and Horace Harding Boulevard.
But as the months dragged on without any apparent progress, Peter said he went to speak with the landlord of the new location. “He would not give him a room because of bad credit,” Peter said the landlord told him.
The landlord for the complex could not be reached for comment, but the landlord for Kim's original school said the story of the lease not being renewed was untrue.
“He had a lease. He always had a lease,” said the landlord, who chose to identify himself only as Manny. He said Kim moved into the location four years ago, signed a 10-year lease and immediately failed to make his rent payments.
Manny said he was then forced to take Kim to court several times during a three-year span. He said Kim made several court-mandated payments during that time but never voluntarily paid his rent and still owes him roughly $100,000.
Kim acknowledged that he still owed Manny rent money but said he had never told Peter or others his lease had expired. He also said that he had tried to contact his customers after November but that he and his family moved to a new apartment during that time.
“I'm not a criminal. I never stopped speaking to them,” Kim said, adding that he had to close down his school's old location because he had made some poor decisions, such as investing too much in the amenities of the facility.
“I'm not that good a businessman,” Kim said.
According to Peter, more than 50 children were enrolled in Kim's school. He first enrolled his son in September 2002, when he paid $750 for one year's instruction. The following January, however, Peter said Kim offered a new deal, which Peter accepted: an additional $1,050 for unlimited instruction until Peter's son reached black belt.
In an effort to recoup his money, Peter said he had called the Queens district attorney's office and was referred to the city's Department of Consumer Affairs, which he said he has not heard back from.
According to one instructor of martial arts, potential clients of such schools should be wary.
“Schools will open all the time and close just as often,” said Ray Santiago, an assistant instructor at the Okinawan Isshin-Ryu Karate School in Bellerose who said he neither knew Kim nor had heard of his school. “Anybody can open a martial arts school.”
Peter said that while Kim continues to promise he will open a new school, he and other parents just want their money back.
“I don't think anybody will send their children back,” he said. “We cannot believe him.”
Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
