Internal Voices Demand Resignation of Korea Badminton Association President

Internal voices demanding the voluntary resignation of Kim Taek-gyu, the president of the Korea Badminton Association, are growing louder.

The 14 association directors released a statement on the 22nd, 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.” They 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, feel responsible for allowing the situation to get to this point. We should have looked into the individual’s mistakes, 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.

A Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said, “Chairman Kim will not be able to avoid responsibility for embezzlement and breach of trust.”

The association strongly opposed this criticism. On the 13th, the association distributed a ‘statement on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s investigation results announcement’ and said, “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 Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism plans to hear additional opinions from national team players who have not yet been able to be interviewed due to international competition schedules and to receive additional materials related to various suspicions, and then conclude the investigation and announce the final results at the end of this month.

Reporter Kim Ki-hwan