Badminton Association hints at legal battle with Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism… “Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, groundlessly accusing embezzlement and breach of trust”

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Kim Taek-gyu, president of the Korea Badminton Association, answers reporters’ questions at Incheon Airport. Yonhap News

[파이낸셜뉴스] The Korea Badminton Association is entering into a legal battle with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The Korea Badminton Association strongly protested against the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s suggestion of embezzlement and breach of trust by Chairman Kim Taek-gyu and issued a statement.

Late on the night of the 13th, the association distributed a ‘Statement on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s announcement of the results of the investigation’ and stated, “Fraudulently accusing an individual of embezzlement and breach of trust without clear evidence is clear defamation, and we will definitely pursue legal action in the future.”

The association said, “Each organization is unilaterally slandering the association and the badminton organization based on fragmentary information rather than looking at the overall operational status of the association’s policies and systems,” and added, “We are faithfully cooperating with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s investigation, so please refrain from excessive speculation and criticism based on unconfirmed facts.”

Last year, the association received about 150 million won worth of sponsorship supplies through verbal contracts with equipment suppliers in the process of carrying out government-supported projects such as the promotion/relegation league and youth club league. This year, a written contract has been signed to receive 140 million won worth of supplies.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism raised an issue, saying, “(The sponsored items) are being distributed arbitrarily without official procedures such as official documents, and some are being used as souvenirs for general meetings of delegates that are unrelated to the purpose of the support project.” On that day, the association refuted the claims, saying, “Most of the sponsored items are shuttlecocks, and they were distributed based on participation rates in recreational sports competitions and promotion/relegation competitions,” and “It is absolutely not true that the association president received illegal rebates, as some reports have claimed.”

In response to the claim that the association did not respect the players’ right to decide on the use of equipment, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, “It made it seem as if the association was forcing players to use poor-quality rackets and shoes,” and “In return for using the sponsor’s products, they receive income other than government subsidies and use that money to send the team to competitions and train. Furthermore, the product in question is the one most used by the world’s top players.”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism stated that it “plans to announce improvement measures” regarding the regulations restricting non-national team players from participating in international competitions, national team operation guidelines and selection methods, regulations on the annual salary and signing bonus of unemployed players, and the permanent referee system, which it mentioned as requiring improvement.

Reporter Sang-il Jeon jsi@fnnews.com

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