Kim Taek-gyu, President of the Korea Badminton Association [Image courtesy: Yonhap News]

Korea Badminton Association Refutes Ministry’s Allegations of Embezzlement and Breach of Trust

The Korea Badminton Association has issued a statement refuting the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s allegations of embezzlement and breach of trust against Chairman Kim Taek-gyu. The association claims that the media and other organizations are defaming them based on incomplete information.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism had mentioned in an interim briefing the possibility of embezzlement and breach of trust by the president of the Badminton Association, Kim Taek-gyu. This was due to the association’s distribution of sponsorship items without formal procedures during a government-supported project last year. However, the association stated that most of the sponsorship items were shuttlecocks, which were distributed based on participation rates in recreational sports competitions and promotion/relegation systems.

The association also addressed the claim that they did not respect the players’ right to decide on the use of equipment. They stated that the players receive income other than government subsidies in return for using the sponsors’ products, which is used to send the players to competitions and train.

The association attributed the reason for not paying out sponsorship money and bonuses to the players to the contract money being reduced by nearly 50% due to COVID-19. They also mentioned that they plan to announce improvement measures regarding the regulations restricting non-national representative players from participating in international competitions and the national team selection method.