[Exclusive] Allegations of Assault with Soju Bottle at Company Dinner... Controversy Over Appointment of Handball Semi-Professional Team Coach

Handball players in training. The photo is unrelated to the specific content of the article.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Allegations have been raised that a prospective coach of a corporate handball team assaulted players in the past.

According to a comprehensive report by Asia Economy on the 17th, Mr. A, who worked as a university coach, took players for mountain training at Seoraksan at the end of October 2014. During a subsequent gathering, he hit a player on the head with a soju bottle, calling him "confused." The soju bottle Mr. A was holding broke, and the player was seriously injured. Since the incident happened suddenly, the players present at the scene did not leave any evidence. Mr. A is also known to have verbally abused another player who came to get a coach's signature needed for a student loan, saying things like "Is your family poor?" It is reported that Mr. A continued to verbally and physically abuse players while coaching at corporate teams as well.

Mr. A's assaults and verbal abuse were known among handball officials, but corporate teams continued to entrust him with coaching roles. Most of these teams reportedly did not exclude him from coaching appointments because there was no concrete evidence proving his assault on players.

The controversy over Mr. A's past assault surfaced as he became a leading candidate for the men's handball coach position at a corporate team. This team recently appointed him as a top candidate for coach and requested the Sports Ethics Center to check his background, disqualifications, and disciplinary records. As this news spread, concerns have arisen among some players of the team, acquaintances, and family members. An acquaintance of a player from this team even posted on the Public Officials Misconduct Reporting Board, claiming "there is corruption in the coach selection process." In response, Mr. A told Asia Economy in a phone interview that the past assault and verbal abuse allegations are "groundless" and that he is "preparing legal action regarding related rumors."

The results of the inquiry into Mr. A will be released this week. A corporate team official stated, "Once the results come out, we will refer to them to decide on the appointment."

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