Jeun’s Institute of Tae Kwon Do, the martial arts academy at 606 E. Army Post Road, Des Moines, Iowa, was a non-profit organization found in 1983. Grandmaster Young Jou Jeun, a nineth-degree black belt born in Korea, has practiced tae kwon do, the Korean form of Karate, since the age of 7. For Jeun, learning martial arts was not about being the next Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee; it was about survival. Jeun was sickly as a child. His older brother encouraged him to take up tae kwon do to gain strength.

Jeun worked diligently at the martial art and was about 18 when the first national tae kwon do championship was held in Korea in the early 1960s. There he captured first place in the first such championship for the sport in the world.

After Jeun’s graduation from high school, Jeun enlisted in the South Korean air force, where he was appointed tae kwon do instructor. He lad classes of 300 to 400 military men in pre-breakfast training.

After discharged in 1967, Jeun began his career as a civilian tae kwon do instructor when he was appointed instructor to Tae Kwon Do Chung Do Kwan Central Academy. Schools in several nations, including Canada, Argentina, Indonesia, and France, extended invitations to Jeun to teach tae kwon do, but a sense of family obligation would not allow him to accept.

By 1973 tae kwon do had gained sufficient popularity to warrant a world championship. That year, Jeun was contacted to give special training to the Hong Kong national team. An invitation to serve the Singapore team in the same capacity followed the next year.

In 1974 when his mother passed away, he felt free to propagate his knowledge of tae kwon do to the Western world. Invitations poured in from all over the globe, he taught in Paris, Lyon, and Marseille in France, and also in Switzerland. In 1977 he was appointed instructor of the Grenoble Tae Kwon Do Association, and was elected to the judges committee that selected France’s national team for the third world tae kwon do championship. He also sat on the championship tournament held in that summer in Chicago which was his first visit to the United States.

In 1979, Jeun came to Des Moines as an instructor with Kim’s Nautilus Gym Center. The business closed but paved the way for Jeun to open his own school in 1983 - with less than 10 students back then. For over four decades, Grandmaster Jeun has led more than a thousand students to black belts.

To Jeun, tae kwon do is more than a sport or a form of self-defense. It also offers additional advantage of promoting physical fitness, mental discipline, and self confidence.