By Cho Jae-hyon
Staff Reporter
Ienna Marco from Italy will be the first foreigner to graduate from the Taekwondo Department at Kyung Hee University, Wednesday.
It is the first time that the school's department will produce a foreigner with a bachelor's degree in Taekwondo since the inception of the department in 1983.
"I staked my whole life on taekwondo," Marco said in an interview with Yonhap News. "I plan to enroll at the graduate school in September to get master's and doctorate degrees in taekwondo."
After obtaining the doctorate degree about five years later, Marco plans to go back to Italy to promote and teach Korea's traditional martial art.
"I will do my best to publicize Korea," he said.
Born in Rome, he was attracted to taekwondo when he first visited a taekwondo studio at the age of seven along with his father. He has practiced it since then and is now a fourth dan or fourth-degree black belt.
Marco came to Korea in 2005 and started learning Korean with an aim to enroll at Kyung Hee University. He was initially denied entrance the school but his continuous pleading to school officials and practicing of the Korean language finally worked to open the door to the school.
"It was very difficult to learn Korean because of the Chinese letters. Even so, I learned it relatively easily thanks to help from my fellows," he said.
He has obtained dual degrees in taekwondo and Korean language. He has also acquired the license to teach Korean to foreigners.