Why did the badminton world become more dissatisfied with the internal strife after the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s announcement? About 600 people demanded the dismissal of the chairman, but did it end in ‘uselessness’?

[스포츠조선 최만식 기자] ‘What’s the point of disciplinary action? Just crushing it is enough… .’

Recently, skepticism is spreading in the badminton world regarding the strict measures taken by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism against the Korea Badminton Association. On the 31st of last month, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the final results of the ‘Badminton Association’s office inspection and auxiliary project performance inspection’ and pointed out various corruptions and poor administration of the association that were found to be true. Accordingly, along with a corrective order for the points pointed out, Chairman Kim Taek-gyu was dismissed and Secretary General A was requested to be severely punished.

However, as these strict measures by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are virtually useless and only aggravate the internal conflict within the badminton world, voices are coming out to criticize the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. According to Sports Chosun’s coverage on the 13th, about 600 people, including some of the association’s vice presidents, directors, and front-line leaders across the country, submitted a request to the association on the 11th, asking the Sports Fair Committee to review the agenda for Chairman Kim’s suspension. Not only elite leaders of schools and business teams at all levels, but also leaders of recreational sports participated in the solidarity signature, and some players also participated, making it the most widespread internal civil complaint in the badminton world since the ‘Ahn Se-young’s decisive speech’ incident.

This request for disciplinary action was part of a self-reflection effort that came out of a sense of crisis that ‘if we continue like this, we will face an even bigger withdrawal’ as the association continued to ignore the request for Chairman Kim’s dismissal from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. In the final announcement of the investigation, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism warned that “this is the last opportunity for the association to show its self-purification efforts,” and that it may begin the process of recovering state subsidies and designating a management organization in the future. From the perspective of sports organizations, being a ‘management body’ is no different from a death sentence.

However, it is known that there is a prevailing pessimistic outlook on whether the association will hold a Fair Trade Commission meeting to deliberate on the dismissal of the president, and even if it does, whether the dismissal will be approved as requested by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This is due to structural problems between the association and the Fair Trade Commission. The Fair Trade Commission is a subcommittee under the association and is classified as one of the advisory organizations. In particular, in October of last year, Chairman Kim appointed 5 additional members, bringing the system to the current 14 members, even though the Fair Trade Commission (9 members) had met the minimum composition requirements (7 or more members). Around this time, concerns arose that the Fair Trade Commission was built as a presidential system.

This raises concerns about how the Fair Trade Commission, whose fairness and neutrality have been questioned, will review disciplinary action against the chairman. In fact, when the Korea Sports Council held a Fair Trade Commission meeting on the 12th and passed a ‘self-reappointment review’ that opened the way for Chairman Lee Ki-heung to run for a third term, anxiety in the badminton world grew.

The Fair Trade Commission’s ’tilted playing field’ atmosphere was already exposed at the request submission stage. Vice Chairman Kim, who represented the signatories, initially attempted to submit the request directly to the Fair Trade Commission Chairman. This was to prevent leakage of the signer’s personal information. However, the Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission refused to accept it and responded, “The Fair Trade Commission is an association organization, so please submit it to the association.” They protested, saying, “The association’s president and secretary-general are subject to disciplinary action, so what if their personal information is viewed by them?” but it was said to be of no use. In the end, Vice Chairman Kim submitted a request after urging the association’s representative to comply with the Personal Information Protection Act.

The issue is not just concerns about unfairness at the Fair Trade Commission. If Chairman Kim goes into ‘holding on’, there is nothing he can do. There are only two months left in the current chairman’s term until January next year. After the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s final announcement, Chairman Kim strongly protested in interviews with some media outlets, saying things like “filing a complaint to the National Human Rights Commission or the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission” and “who will fire me?” Additionally, the legally guaranteed objection period against the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s investigation results is one month from the date of announcement.

Many in the legal community predict that if Chairman Kim enters the process of filing an objection or taking legal action, a considerable amount of time will pass as he has to decide between right and wrong, and then he will finish his term as chairman. In the end, there is a growing risk that the request for dismissal from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will end up as a mere ‘official act’.

It has been reported that Chairman Kim is expanding his front line with the ‘opposition’ by meeting only with the so-called ‘pro-party’ city and city association presidents and executives during a recent countermeasures meeting related to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s investigation. Rather than solving the association’s problems through the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s investigation, it looks like it is being ‘scratched and crumbled.’ A representative of the association said, “There are complaints that the internal strife in the association is only deepening due to the vague actions taken by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. If this situation is left unattended and the president leaves after completing his term, there is a lot of worry about who will be responsible for the aftermath.” .
Reporter Choi Man-sik [email protected]