May 1 Is Pan Am Tae Kwon Do Day

With a proclamation presented at a March 6 City Council meeting, Mayor Jim Janney declared May 1 Pan Am Tae Kwon Do Day for "being a tenacious business owner, a good neighbor and turning young kids into fine adults."

Grand Master Nam Kim's Pan Am Tae Kwon Do Academy will celebrate 22 years in Imperial Beach Wednesday.

The 9th degree black belt is originally from Seoul, South Korea and taught taekwondo in the Korean Marine Corps before coming to IB.

"I like Imperial Beach. It's very quiet, very clean and has better weather [than Korea]. It's a very nice community," he said.

Kim estimates that since opening more than two decades ago, he has trained about 5,000 students.

"22 years is a really long time," he said. "Number one, I teach discipline, good attitude and good behavior."

Current and former black belt students will hold a brick breaking and sparring demonstration at the 730 State Route 75 studio Wednesday at 6 p.m. All are invited to attend.

On May 11 Pan Am will send up to 40 competitors to the San Diego Association Taekwondo Championships, Kin said.