In ‘Ahn·So·Gong’… Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism “Improving the absurdity of the athletes’ village” – Kyunghyang Shinmun

Demand for the dismissal of Kim Taek-gyu, head of the Badminton Association… “Athletes, voices like Ahn Se-young”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism demanded the dismissal of Kim Taek-gyu, president of the Korea Badminton Association. He warned that in the worst case, the association could be designated as a management organization.

In the final briefing on the results of the Badminton Association’s office inspection and auxiliary project performance inspection held at the Seoul Government Complex annex on the 31st, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “As a measure against the association’s violation of the subsidy law, an investigation was requested to the Songpa Police Station on the 29th for suspicions of embezzlement and breach of trust. He said, “We requested the association’s Sports Fair Committee to dismiss the chairman who was directly responsible, the secretary-general to take heavy disciplinary action, and the relevant person in charge to also be disciplined.” The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism requested submission of opinions through the Korea Sports Council on the 30th as a preliminary procedure for recovering government funds and subsidies for misuse. Including refunds, sanctions, and prize money from sponsors that were not paid to the athletes, the total amount recovered amounts to approximately 9 billion won. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “There is no deadline for the recovery of government subsidies, but we plan to implement it immediately. “We will strictly enforce the regulations in accordance with the law,” he said.

However, the final authority to dismiss the president or designate a management body rests with the Korea Sports Council, not the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “We requested that the Korea Sports Council increase its disciplinary jurisdiction, but the Sports Council recently refused. “If there is no improvement, we plan to request the designation of a management group,” he said.

This incident originated from the decisive remarks of Ahn Se-young (pictured), the gold medalist in badminton women’s singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism accepted virtually all of the issues raised by Ahn Se-young about the association and the national team, saying, “As a result of individual interviews with the players, there was not much difference from Ahn Se-young’s thoughts.” It is expected to be applied to other sports as well, leading to changes in the operating guidelines of the Jincheon Athletes’ Village.

In the athlete injury management system, the athlete’s individual choice from diagnosis to rehabilitation treatment will be guaranteed, medical personnel and space in the Jincheon Athletes’ Village will be expanded, and the absurd culture related to life in the athlete’s village will be improved. In particular, he said he would allow players to freely stay out and stay out on holidays and weekends, and eliminate the absurdity of having juniors clean and do laundry. There are also plans to abolish mountain training within the athletes’ village.

In addition, for the badminton national team, in addition to providing support for leaders for each event and ensuring personal trainers’ participation in national team training, a corrective order was also issued regarding regulations related to the national team’s participation in international competitions. Regarding the issue of using the association’s sponsor’s supplies, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued a corrective order to ensure that all players have the right to choose supplies and to display the personal sponsor’s logo on their uniforms, saying, “It is a universal right for all players.”