Jeon Nam Provincial Assembly Member Jang Eun-young: "We Will Thoroughly Investigate Unauthorized Player Participation"

Jang Eun-young, a member of the Jeonnam Provincial Assembly (Democratic Party of Korea, proportional representation), urged a thorough investigation into the fraudulent athlete participation that occurred two years ago at the Jeonnam Student Comprehensive Sports Competition on the last day of the Jeonnam Provincial Office of Education's administrative audit on the 14th.

According to Assemblywoman Jang, in October 2021, an elementary school in Yeonggwang fielded an ineligible athlete in the gymnastics event of the 'Jeonnam Student Comprehensive Sports Competition,' which selects representatives for Jeonnam in the National Youth Sports Festival (Sonyeon Cheon), and won first place.

Jang Eun-young, Jeonnam Provincial Assembly Member

Assemblywoman Jang stated, "Athletes participating in the Student Comprehensive Sports Competition should compete in the middle school division if they are 6th graders in elementary school, and in the high school division if they are 3rd graders in middle school, for the Youth Sports Festival held the following year. However, Yeonggwang A Elementary School illegally entered a 6th-grade student in the middle school division and won the championship."

She continued, "At that time, the supervising teacher used the award records for personnel matters such as postponement of transfer, and the sports team coach is still teaching students at the school. Although the Office of Education had already identified this issue several months ago, they have handled it lukewarmly. We demand a thorough investigation and administrative action."

Yeonggwang A Elementary School is the only school in Jeonnam with a gymnastics team and has recently been embroiled in internal conflict due to lawsuits filed between the vice principal and faculty members.

Parents have expressed concerns and protests over the damage this conflict may cause to the students.

One parent said, "The vice principal and faculty members, who should protect the students, are causing conflicts, and only the innocent students are suffering. As educators, I hope they prioritize the children over their personal feelings."

Park Jae-hyun, Director of the Physical Education and Health Division, said, "The issue of the fraudulent athlete participation at the school was also belatedly identified by the Office of Education. Since it happened several years ago, there are many conflicting and inconsistent claims from the involved parties. We have confiscated the medals and certificates from the ineligible athlete and required the related personnel to submit a fact verification statement."

He added, "The Yeonggwang Education Support Office is still conducting an audit. Once the audit is completed and clear facts are revealed, we will take definite measures. Students are suffering greatly due to the conflicts between the vice principal and faculty members. We hope the repercussions do not spread further for the sake of the children."

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