Young Kun Kim (김영군, born November 29, 1956), known as Y.K. Kim, is a Korean-born taekwondo martial artist who resides in Florida. Kim was the producer and main actor of the film Miami Connection. He also publishes Martial Arts World Magazine, a quarterly magazine for professionals in the martial arts, and wrote the book Winning Is a Choice.Kim received a taekwondo black belt at age 13, making him among the youngest in Korea to do so. At first he studied and taught taekwondo in Korea. In 1976 he moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina and taught taekwondo there. In 1977 he moved to New York City. In 1978 he moved to Orlando, Florida and opened Y.K. Kim's TaeKwon-Do, his first taekwondo school. The school, on Colonial Drive, became the Martial Arts World, a franchise that Erin Sullivan of the Orlando Weekly described as "the McDonald's of martial arts schools" in Central Florida. The school was originally on Robinson Street, then on Mills Avenue, then its current location on Colonial Drive. As of 1988 Y.K. Kim only claimed ownership of the East Colonial Drive martial arts school. As of that year the other schools are part of the American TaeKwon-Do Federation, which Kim founded. The federation establishes the philosophies and rules used by the schools within the federation.In the mid-1980s, Korean film director Richard Park met Kim after seeing Kim interviewed on the Korean talk show Meet at 11 p.m. (11시에 만납시다) in the mid-1980s and the two agreed to produce a film, Miami Connection. Originally the film had a very limited release with no significant attention. The production of the film almost lead to bankruptcy for Kim. In the meantime he established his business and became a motivational speaker.In 2002 Y.K. Kim and Byoung Gug Choung, a legislator in Korea, proposed building a Korea pavilion at Epcot. In 2012 Drafthouse Cinemas redistributed the Miami Connection film, leading to a positive reception.
I went to Twentieth Century, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal, you name it. Every single person say, 'Hey, Y.K. Kim, this is trash, this is trash! Don't waste your time!' I don't even know how many times this movie died. But I went too far, I couldn't stop. No way! Whenever I wanted to stop I can see my students' faces. That's the martial arts spirit. I had promised these students, you know?
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[on Miami Connection (1987)]. My students dedicated themselves to this movie so much. The sheriff department, the University of Florida - they support me so well. I did not lift up the town. It's terrible and terrible. That is what I have to pay back until I [die].
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Only through the elimination of violence can we achieve world peace.
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