The Korean Academy of Taekwondo was founded in February of 1980 by Grandmaster Jae Kyu Chung. His expertise in the Korean Green Berets, eight years of teaching in Brazil, and the national and international titles he had acquired gave our students some of the best instruction out of Korea.

His first Taekwondo school was founded in Aurora off Alameda Street, but he later moved this establishment to 380 South Potomac Street, near the Gymnastics Institute.
He also rented a third building located at 13700 East Alameda, near the Aurora Mall. During this time, Grandmaster Chung served as the coach of the U.S. National Taekwondo team.

Master Chung expanded to two sister schools in Littleton and Arvada. In the mid nineties, he transferred control over the Aurora school to his student, Master Ghassan Timani. Master Ghassan continued to exercise control over the Korean Academy and Master Chung sold all three of the schools, returning to Korea to pursue a career in politics. While in Korea, he served as the head of security for Kim De Jung, the former president of South Korea. Master Ghassan is the highest student of Grandmaster Chung in the world.

In the fall of 1998, the third building was torn down to make way for a freeway off ramp and so the school moved again, this time to 16800 E Mississippi. The school remained in that location for six years until Master Ghassan built a new school across the street. The new building is not part of a complex as other schools are and was built as a free standing structure to provide an intelligent layout, modern safety equipment, and the latest digital media technology.

In 2004, the Korean Academy saw the addition of Master Bill Pottle, one of the Korean Academy’s highest ranking students. After getting his black belt from the Korean Academy, Master Bill trained at Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania where he was pursuing academic and professional interests.

In 2005, we had a special celebration for our 25th Anniversary.

In 2006 the school was blessed with the closing of the former United Academy of Taekwondo, as over 30 of their top students transfered to KAT.

In Jan of 2007, Master Emelio Tio moved to Texas where he opened up the independant KAT Texas, branch. November of 2007, the school acquired the former Garrett Taekwondo, and reopened the school as the KAT South Branch.

In 2008, Master Emelio was reactivated by the US Army and opened the KAT Baghdad, Iraq branch in one of Saddam's former palaces.

Over the years thousands of students have trained with the Korean Academy. We have had many state, national, and international champions. In all of these years, we have had an excellent safety record.