Construction of taekwondo park begins

MUJU, South Korea, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- Ground was broken here Friday for the
world's first taekwondo park, which the government hopes will become a mecca for
the nearly 70 million practitioners of the Korean martial art worldwide.
Hundreds of people from around the country and abroad came to this city in North
Jeolla Province, about 240km south of Seoul, to attend a ceremony marking the
event. Among them were Prime Minister Han Seung-soo and International Olympic
Committee members Moon Dae-sung and Phillip Walter Coles, of South Korea and
Australia, respectively.
The 2.31 million square meter park is scheduled to be completed in 2013, and will
feature a 5,000-seat stadium, exhibition halls, training facilities, a research
center, a graduate school and an academy, government officials said.
They added the park is also designed to help visitors learn about the basic
principles of taekwondo.
The Korea-originated sport has been an official Olympic medal event since the
2000 Sydney Summer Games.
brk@yna.co.kr
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