The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held an interim briefing on the investigation of the Korea Badminton Association at the annex of the government complex in central Seoul on Tuesday. Lee Jung-woo, director-general of the ministry's sports bureau, was in charge of the briefing.

Director Lee said, "In the wake of Ahn Se-young's interview, we are investigating △ improvement of the system △ management of the national team △ inspection of the status of subsidiary projects △ operation of the association." The task of improving the system is △ sponsorship contract △ selection of national team △ restriction of participation in international competitions △ regulation of player salary and contract period △ disciplinary action for national team.

Lee said, "We listened to the opinions of 22 out of 48 athletes, including Ahn Se-young, considering the schedule of the international competition and will collect opinions from all the athletes later." The ministry made the announcement focusing on the progress of the system improvement and the actual conditions of subsidy management and operation confirmed so far. It also said it will announce the overall results including systematization of national team management later this month.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's announcement did not include the injury management that Ahn mentioned. "I met Ahn in person and I understand that he did not receive proper treatment at the time of the injury and raised various issues including the athlete's village and his team," Director Lee said. "I heard the opinions of Ahn and Kim Hak-kyun, and I will announce it after hearing the opinions of other players, officials and associations who are currently participating in the competition."

When asked if the recommendation for immediate abolition of the national team's duties and reasons for disqualification could lead to difficulties in managing the players, he said, "The situation has changed a lot from the past, but it is true that the relationship between the leader and the player is too vertical," adding, "In foreign cases, guidelines for their respective roles are presented through their own protocols. We plan to abolish the system on the condition that we meet with officials and make guidelines."

Regarding the association's opinion on the alleged embezzlement of goods, he said, "Usually, we listen to the opinions of those involved, check the data, and finally listen to the opinions of the association in the form of a response."

He stressed that the essence of the payback problem is that the items received were distributed at random. According to the 2023 data presented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, sponsorship items worth about 40 million won (37,500 U.S. dollars) were given to the Taean County Badminton Association, to which the head of the public offering promotion committee belongs. In contrast, South Gyeongsang Province received only 27,000 won (27,100 dollars) worth of sponsorship items, which are less than 30,000 won (27,100 dollars).

Director Lee said, "Since there is no standard (for allocating sponsored goods) and there is no set by official organizations such as the board of directors or the general meeting, arbitrary distribution or use should be returned to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism or used with government approval under the Subsidy Act Management Act, but we omitted this," adding, "No matter what the association explains, it will be difficult to clarify all the illegality."

"Although the entire investigation has not been completed, it will be difficult for Chairman Kim Taek-kyu to avoid responsibility for embezzlement and breach of trust from working-level officials," he added.

Regarding the possibility of expanding the scope of the investigation to other stocks, he said, "We believe that there will be similar cases in other forms such as goods issues while playing the promotion league," adding, "If we need to understand the situation and investigate the facts, we need to do it."

When asked if the association had sufficient data submission, he said, "The 2024 data was a little insufficient, so we asked the city to respond and conduct a full investigation," adding, "Since the sponsor also has the data, I think we will be able to understand the amount and purpose of distribution."

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it will announce the final results of the association's investigation at the end of this month. "Since we had time to organize and prepare a team after the Olympics, the actual investigation took about three weeks," Lee said, explaining why he made the interim announcement, saying, "It has been about a month since the Olympics, and there were public opinions that the investigation will be delayed."

"Ahn is scheduled to return to the National Sports Festival in October, and the purpose of the event was to expedite the process as much as possible so that athletes and leaders can quickly return to their daily lives in a chaotic situation," Lee said. "If there is a responsibility that Ahn has raised among the issues, adults should take responsibility for it. We rushed it from the perspective that athletes should quickly return to their daily lives." 메이저사이트