‘Godfather of Ice Skating’ Jeon Myeong-gyu, Final Victory in Lawsuit to Cancel Korea National Sport University Dismissal

Law: "Considering Contributions to the Ice Skating World, Dismissal Is Excessively Severe"

Professor Jeon Myeong-gyu of Korea National Sport University, known as the godfather of the ice skating world, won the final victory in an administrative lawsuit he filed against Korea National Sport University to cancel his dismissal.

Jeon Myung-kyu, Professor at Korea National Sport University

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Oh Kyung-mi) announced on the 1st that it upheld the lower court's partial ruling in favor of Jeon in the lawsuit to cancel the dismissal imposed by Korea National Sport University by dismissing the appeal without oral argument. Accordingly, the dismissal by Korea National Sport University is canceled, and of the disciplinary fines totaling about 10 million KRW imposed on Jeon, only 5.94 million KRW will remain, with the rest being canceled.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced in 2018, during an audit of the Korea Skating Union, that abuses of power by former Vice President Jeon, who served twice as vice president of the Korea Skating Union, were confirmed. Subsequently, based on the audit results from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its own investigation, the Ministry of Education demanded severe disciplinary action from Korea National Sport University. In response, Korea National Sport University held a disciplinary committee meeting and recognized a total of 11 disciplinary reasons against Professor Jeon, notifying him of dismissal and imposition of disciplinary fines in August 2019. However, Jeon filed an administrative lawsuit in March of the following year to cancel the disciplinary action.

The first and second trials judged that four of the disciplinary reasons were not recognized, and three were only partially recognized. The first trial court ruled, "Considering that a significant number of the disciplinary reasons are not recognized, and even if recognized, the plaintiff's achievements and contributions to the ice skating world must be taken into account, and that the excessive public outrage formed by indiscriminate media coverage was overly considered in the disciplinary action, the dismissal is excessively harsh."

It also ruled that Jeon's contacting and meeting with students who were victims of harsh treatment and sexual violence incidents in January 2019, against the school's policy, could not be grounds for disciplinary action. However, it recognized as disciplinary reasons that Jeon pressured the victim of assault by former short track national team coach Cho Jae-beom to settle and persuaded other victims' parents not to attend the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism audit. It also found disciplinary action justified for Jeon receiving and using two cycling bicycles from his students and recommending and appointing two individuals who did not meet qualification standards as instructors at the Lifelong Education Center.

The Supreme Court also agreed with the lower courts' judgments. Meanwhile, Jeon returned to Korea National Sport University in March this year, four years after his dismissal.

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