Betrayal on the Court: Badminton Association Board Abandons Ship, Demands Chairman Kim Taek-gyu’s Resignation Amid Post-Olympic Chaos

Calls for Resignation of Korea Badminton Association President Grow Louder

Following the remarks of 2024 Paris Olympic gold medalist Ahn Se-young, voices within the association calling for the voluntary resignation of the Korea Badminton Association President Kim Taek-gyu are growing louder.

On the 22nd, 14 board members of the Badminton Association released a statement, saying, “Chairman Kim is causing harm to the association and Korean badminton as a whole,” and “We, as a board of directors, demand the resignation of Chairman Kim Taek-gyu, Executive Director Kim Jong-woong, and Auditor Park Gye-ok.” This follows the previous statement demanding the resignation of the association’s three vice-chairmen.

The board members stated, “Since the Paris Olympics, the situation of Korean badminton has been worsening both internally and externally,” and “We, the board members, also feel responsible for having stood by and watched the situation get to this point. We should have looked into the mistakes of individuals, reprimanded them, and corrected ourselves, but we failed to do so.”

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced in an interim briefing on the association that most of the allegations of Chairman Kim’s misappropriation and misuse of sponsored goods were found to be true.

In response, the association argued, “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.”