A onetime taekwondo instructor in Eden Prairie appeared in court Thursday afternoon on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage student numerous times over several months at his home and at the studio.

Hyobin Lee, 30, was charged Tuesday in Hennepin County District Court with two counts of criminal sexual conduct in connection with raping the martial arts student in 2018, when she was 15 years old.

Lee, of Eden Prairie, was jailed late Monday morning and remains held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Court records do not list an attorney for him.

Police were alerted to the allegations on Sept. 21 by officials in the girl's school district, the criminal complaint read.

Stacy Bettison, a representative of Master Moon's Tae Kwon Do, said the company "had no knowledge of any allegations until after he was arrested.

"Only when he was formally charged [on Tuesday] did they have any specific knowledge regarding the precise nature of the allegations, at which point Master Moon's immediately terminated Mr. Lee," she said.

"We were shocked and dismayed by the allegations," read a statement released by Master Moon's. "We believe this is isolated to this one student. ... We will be examining every aspect of our Eden Prairie and Shakopee studios' policies, procedures and practices to ensure that no child is ever put in harm's way in this, or any other, manner."

According to the criminal complaint:

The girl said Lee began as her trainer at Master Moon's in 2015.

In 2018, Lee began giving her rides, including picking her up from school and taking her to taekwondo classes.

In July of that year, Lee took the girl back to his home and sexually assaulted her for the first of several times. Another assault occurred in the studio's bathroom.

In November 2018, a new taekwondo studio opened closer to her home, and she left the Eden Prairie location.

A former instructor at the Eden Prairie studio, a onetime colleague of Lee's, told police of learning from the girl last month about the assaults.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482