With the recent popularity of the “Karate Kid” remake, martialarts are back in the spotlight, and a Brookhaven dojo is makingmartial arts history.

From Friday through Sunday, Grandmaster No-won Park will teach aseminar at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. He is being brought tothe area by Brookhaven’s Academy of Korean Martial Arts.

Park, who was hired by the Korean Ministry of National Defense 30years ago to develop self-defense techniques for the Fifth AirborneBrigade, will demonstrate those techniques, known as Teuk Gong MooSool. That style became Korea’s official military martial art andis now taught to Korean Special Forces and other military and lawenforcement agencies in Korea.

In addition, Academy of Martial Arts owner Master Steve Kincadesaid his dojo is now one of two in the country that are affiliatedwith TGMS, and Park will demonstrate and teach his techniques forthe first time in America this weekend.

“It’s very popular in Korea and they’re really starting to take itmore worldwide,” Kincade said. “When I affiliated with theorganization, there’s really only one other dojo that isaffiliated, and the other guy was in Dallas … I became fascinatedwith the art itself.”

Park will cover all sorts of things from stances to escapes toself-defense, Kincade said, and the instruction will be broken downby levels for children and adults of all ages and ranks. It’s morea matter of familiarity with the Korean styles than years ofexperience, he said.

“It’s not only for the big bad special forces guys, and it’scomprehensive enough that it’s good for everyone,” Kincadesaid.

And after the seminar, Park will stay in Brookhaven for a week,working intensively one-on-one with Kincade, showing him thenuances and subtleties of the art as he hopes to bring theknowledge to the USA on a wider scale.

“He wants to make inroads in the U.S., and I have about 20 some oddyears of experience and know a lot of experienced people,” Kincadesaid. “He decided to come train a little while, and we’ll be doingprivate training, which means he’ll basically be beating me up fora week, which I love.”

Kincade said that is part of the payoff of hosting such a momentousevent.

“Just the knowledge and understanding, this is such an honor for mefor him to come literally from across the world to this place,” hesaid. “This is a personal thing to me, also for my students,because it introduces them to an international scale they wouldn’thave access to, and a culture at the same time and further trainingin the things we’re interested in.”

The seminar begins at Co-Lin Friday at 6 p.m. with a beginnersclass in Calendar Hall. It resumes Saturday at 9 a.m., and goesuntil 5 p.m., and then the advanced adults session takes placeSunday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Interested martial artists are encouraged to call Kincade at601-835-2773 for more information.