Da-Young Lee: "School violence is my issue... It has nothing to do with my sister Jae-Young Lee"

Setter Lee Da-young (26), who left the Korean professional volleyball league after being accused of school violence and is now playing in an overseas league, once again bowed her head to volleyball fans over the past unfortunate incident.

Lee Da-young, who recently signed with Volleyro Le Cannet in the French league, voluntarily held a press conference on the morning of the 5th before departing for Paris, France, emphasizing that the school violence was her own wrongdoing and that her twin sister Lee Jae-young was not involved.

However, regarding the conflict with senior player A from her former team, she said, "I actually want to ask why they acted that way."

Lee Jae-young and Lee Da-young were accused of school violence in February 2021 while playing for the women's professional volleyball team Heungkuk Life. In particular, one of the victim's allegations that Lee Da-young threatened with a knife shocked fans greatly.

Lee Da-young is holding a press conference ahead of her departure on the morning of the 5th.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

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As the controversy spread, Lee Jae-young and Lee Da-young admitted to the wrongdoing in a handwritten apology and were indefinitely suspended from the team. Subsequently, Heungkuk Life effectively released the two players by giving up their player registration on the deadline day for the 2021-22 professional volleyball regular season.

Afterwards, Lee Jae-young and Lee Da-young left Korea and continued their careers overseas. Lee Da-young played in the Greek and Romanian leagues before joining the French league, while Lee Jae-young has been training individually without a team since 2022.

At the press conference, Lee Da-young stated, "I naturally admit my wrongdoing, but I requested this opportunity to correct the parts that are not true and to apologize once again to the fans." She added, "The school violence issue is my problem, and Lee Jae-young, who was not present at the time, is not related, but she suffered greatly just because she is my twin."

Lee Da-young explained the incident, saying, "In the second year of middle school (Jeonju Geunyeong Girls' Middle School), I was getting along well with friends but had a fight with one friend, and the incident happened in the heat of emotions." She added, "It was resolved well at the time but resurfaced two years ago."

When asked by reporters why she did not apologize directly and disclose this information immediately after the incident was made public, Lee Da-young replied, "Since I was with the team (Heungkuk Life), there were parts we could not handle on our own, and although there were things I could talk about, I was unable to do so."

Da-Young Lee (right) and Jae-Young Lee [Image source=Korea Volleyball Federation (KOVO)]

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She continued, "After the incident, I tried to meet the victims personally to sincerely apologize and seek forgiveness, but those friends still avoid meeting and do not respond to contact," adding, "They do not want to communicate and are demanding a settlement of 100 million won per person through lawyers, so it has not been resolved yet."

Lee Da-young said, "I can only say that I am very sorry for everything, and if given another chance, I want to apologize and ask for forgiveness from those friends no matter what."

Meanwhile, Lee Da-young briefly mentioned her relationship with senior national team player A, with whom she had conflicts at Heungkuk Life just before the school violence incident became public.

Lee Da-young said, "The controversy regarding the issue with player A was true as it was," and revealed, "I actually want to ask that player why they acted that way. They never hit the ball I set."

Finally, Lee Da-young expressed her feelings, saying, "I am very grateful to be able to play on the overseas stage, which was my dream," and "I am having fun gaining a lot of experience."

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