Photo : YONHAP News
The national governing body of badminton has strongly protested the sports ministry’s allegations of embezzlement and breach of trust by its chief, Kim Taek-gyu.
In a statement late Friday, the Badminton Korea Association(BKA) said it will hold the government legally responsible for defamation, accusing the ministry of raising such allegations without enough evidence.
The association said the governing body and the badminton community are facing one-sided slander based only on a few pieces of information, rather than the overall picture of its policy and system.
At a briefing on the ongoing inspection of the association on Tuesday, the ministry mentioned possible embezzlement and breach of trust by Kim, alleging an improper distribution of state-sponsored goods without following official procedures.
The association has denied such allegations, saying that the items, mostly shuttlecocks, were distributed properly and that Kim did not take any illicit kickbacks in the process.
The ministry launched the probe last month after An Se-young, the gold medalist in women’s singles badminton at the Paris Olympics, criticized the BKA’s treatment of athletes and its overall operations.