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Korean group opens new center in San Antonio
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Posted on Dec 19 2008
The Korean Association of Saipan inaugurated yesterday a new Korean Community Center in San Antonio where they plan to put up a language school to teach their children how to speak their native tongue and to know their parents’ culture.
One of the association’s board members noted that some of their children who are born and raised on Saipan could not speak their native language fluently.
“So this would a big help for them—from the kindergarten up to high school. They are really our target but people who may not be Koreans may also enroll,” Jun Lee said.
Saipan Mayor Juan Tudela, Department of Public Safety Commissioner Santiago Tudela and Korean Consul General Lee Chong-il were the special guests during the ribbon cutting ceremony.
Tudela said the association had previously requested for a site in Garapan where they could put up the Center but the municipal government decided to provide them the former Neo-Fashion factory because it has become idle.
Consul General Lee praised the center’s opening, saying that, despite the 3,000 Korean citizens living on Saipan, they had no community center of their own.
“Now, through the efforts of the community, we are able to realize this dream. Though there is much work to be done and many renovations to be made, I think that the new Community Center will be completed next year,” Consul Lee said.
Lee thanked the association and the Korean School of Saipan who have devoted much time and energy to make the new center a reality.
Park Jun-Soo, president of the Korean Association, said this is a much-anticipated project and its groundbreaking ceremony is a momentous occasion.
The center will have two administrative offices, an auditorium, three storage units, a basketball court, and 64 parking lots.
The school area will have 13 classrooms, an office, a library, cafeteria, kitchen, three storage units and four toilets.
