Private Sports Clubs in Quarantine Blind Spots... Government to Conduct Full Survey of Baseball and Soccer Clubs

Ministry of Education and Ministry of Culture Form Task Force to Begin On-Site Inspections
Comprehensive Survey of Baseball and Soccer Teams Composed of Student Athletes

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] As a COVID-19 cluster infection occurred at the soccer club of Gwangmun High School in Gangdong-gu, Seoul, the government is launching a full inspection targeting private sports clubs.

On the 17th, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced that they will conduct on-site inspections to prevent COVID-19 infections among student athletes belonging to private sports clubs by discipline.

At Gwangmun High School, the first confirmed case occurred on the 5th, and as of the 17th, 24 student athletes in the soccer club have tested positive for COVID-19. The soccer club student athletes lived in a shared dormitory and participated in after-school soccer activities, during which the cluster infection occurred.

School sports teams are not allowed to conduct overnight training during the semester under the School Sports Promotion Act, whereas private sports clubs operated by external organizations are not subject to the related laws. Gwangmun High School was also operated in the form of a private sports club called 'Gwangmun FC,' creating a blind spot in quarantine management.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will conduct a full inspection targeting soccer and baseball club teams and will expand to other sports. As of March, there are 551 soccer clubs and 90 baseball clubs composed of student athletes in operation.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have formed a task force (TF) for on-site inspections, and local governments, education offices, and sports organizations by discipline plan to form on-site inspection teams for each of the 17 provinces and cities.

On the same day, the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Ministry of the Interior and Safety held a TF meeting in the morning to discuss the roles of each ministry, and in the afternoon, they plan to hold a practical cooperation team TF meeting with related parties including the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee to discuss detailed on-site inspection matters.

The on-site inspection teams for each of the 17 provinces and cities will check compliance with quarantine guidelines throughout the training process and accommodation of private club teams through visits. If violations are detected, measures such as fines will be imposed.

Ham Young-gi, Director of Curriculum Policy at the Ministry of Education, said, "We plan to establish a management system for private sports clubs through prior discussions with the cooperation team (TF) so that student athletes belonging to private club teams can safely participate in training."

Yoo Byung-chae, Director of the Sports Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, "We will conduct quarantine inspections of private clubs in cooperation with related organizations such as the Ministry of Education, education offices, and sports organizations, and prepare club operation guidelines by sports organizations to ensure there are no gaps in quarantine management."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.