Voluntary Resignation Demanded for Korea Badminton Association President

Additional voices demanding the voluntary resignation of Kim Taek-gyu, the president of the Korea Badminton Association, have been raised within the association.

The 14 association directors issued a statement, saying, “Chairman Kim is in a position of great responsibility and is causing great harm not only to the parties involved but also to the association and Korean badminton as a whole through his accumulated mistakes,” and demanded the resignation of Chairman Kim, Executive Director Kim Jong-woong, and Auditor Park Gye-ok.

Previously, four vice-presidents of the association had also demanded the resignation of these three people.

The association’s executive board consists of a total of 40 people, including one president, six vice presidents, one executive director, 30 directors, and two auditors.

The 14 directors pointed out that “the situation of Korean badminton has been worsening since the Paris Olympics,” and that “the association’s response is not solving the problem, but rather adding fuel to the fire, disappointing the public, and tarnishing the reputation of Korean badminton.”

They also said, “We, the board members, also feel responsible for allowing the situation to get to this point. We should have looked into the mistakes of each individual, reprimanded them, and corrected ourselves, but we failed to do so.”

Earlier, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism pointed out the possibility of applying embezzlement and breach of trust charges to Chairman Kim’s ‘payback’ suspicions during an interim briefing on the association’s investigation.

In response, the association strongly protested in an official statement, saying, “Fraudulently accusing an individual of embezzlement and breach of trust without clear evidence is clearly defamation, and we will definitely pursue legal action in the future.”