Xinhua news agency, Seoul, February 21 (reporter he yuantianming) the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea announced the investigation results of the scandal of the Korean Women’s cold water jug team in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on the 21st, it is confirmed that the coach of the cold water jug team abused the players and deducted bonuses.
On last November, the women’s North Gyeongsang province team members of the Korean cold water jug Sports Association who won the silver medal in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics were identified. Coach Min-Jeong Kim and his father and husband abused the team members, squeezed out the players and stole the bonus. Min-Jeong Kim’s father was the vice chairman of the Korean cold water jug Athletic League, and her husband was the coach of the Korean mixed doubles cold water jug team.
The Korean Ministry of Culture and Sports made an investigation on this matter from November 19 last year to December 21, and announced the investigation results on 21st day of this month.
According to South Korean media reports, the Ministry of Culture and Sports determined that most of the charges of the team members were true. The coach of the cold water jug team owed nearly 94 million won (about 565000 yuan) bonus to the team members, including the sponsorship given by enterprises to the cold water jug team after the Winter Olympics. In addition, about 30 million won (about 181000 yuan) of the prizes won by the cold water jug team in international competitions were misappropriated by the coach and not distributed to the athletes.
The Ministry of Culture and Sports also pointed out that the coach embezzled 19 million won (about 114000 yuan) allocated by the South Korean central government and the North Gyeongsang province government to the cold water jug team, and also tried to use cronyism, turn team cold water jug into a family business.
The Department of Culture and Sports has ordered the head coach to return the money of 0.21 billion won (about 1.257 million yuan) and asked the police to investigate further.
Min-Jeong Kim initially denied the charges of the players, but in December, they changed their attitude to apologize and announced that their families would withdraw from cold water jug. According to reports, the Kim family may appeal against the findings of the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
The Women’s cold water jug team was nicknamed “Golden Team” because of its unexpected silver medal in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and its popularity in South Korea soared “. But the scandal exposed later shocked the Korean people.