Oh-kyung Lim "Discipline players with special military service exceptions"... Seungmin Yoo "I will do that" (comprehensive)

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Park Gyeong-joong = At ​​the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's audit of the Korean Sports Council and other organizations on the 21st, criticism of sports administration poured in, including a call for the abolition of special military service provisions for Asian Games gold medalists.

Representative Lim Oh-kyung of the Democratic Party of Korea called for improving the special military service benefits given to professional sports athletes who won gold medals at the Asian Games.

Rep. Lim said, “Amateur athletes practice to the point of blood and tears to wear the Taegeuk symbol, but professional athletes competed in the Asian Games for their own benefit, incurring public outrage,” and added, “The military exemption (for gold medalists) in the Asian Games should be abolished.”

He continued, "Professional baseball players were completely defeated by Japanese members of society," and emphasized, "The right to participate in the Asian Games in which professional players compete should be handed over to the second and third division leagues."

Previously, the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games baseball team, composed of professional players, lost 0-5 to the Japanese team composed entirely of unemployed players in the first game of the super round, but faced them again in the final and won 3-1.

Rep. Lim also said, "I believe there should be strict procedures and processes related to the several sports that caused problems, and it is not too late to hold an ethics committee of the Korea Sports Council and hold a disciplinary committee for athletes in these sports."

To this, Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korea Sports Council, responded, “I will do so.”

However, Chairman Yoo showed a cautious stance on the abolition of special military service provisions, saying, “Isn’t there a need to approach very carefully the deprivation of benefits for all athletes because of some professional athletes?”

Chairman Yoo said, “There are a lot of amateur athletes who sweat and sweat in the field and exercise just for this (military service benefits),” and added, “The voices of such athletes should be reflected and revised appropriately.”

Rep. Yoon Yong-geun of the People Power Party said, "While military service benefits have been controversial, on the one hand, the opportunity to join the Armed Forces Athletic Corps, which is an opportunity to fulfill military service and continue one's career as an athlete, is a problem because it varies depending on the sport."

Rep. Yoon asked, “The number of summer sports athletes allocated to the Armed Forces Athletic Corps is 322 in 24 sports, while the number of winter sports athletes is 4 in one event,” and asked, “Can this gap be considered reasonable?”

Issues regarding the operation of affiliated organizations of the Korea Sports Council also emerged.

Democratic Party lawmaker Noh Jong-myeon raised the suspicion of 'work-sharing' by Cha Myeong-ju, director of the Sports Ethics Center, who served as a national baseball team player and pitcher for Lotte, Doosan, and Hanwha.

Representative Noh pointed out, “After Director Cha took office, he gave the service business to a company called Sports Science Lab, where his spouse is the CEO,” and “(the company) won four projects over 2024 and 2025.”

People Power Party lawmaker Kim Seok-gi pointed out that support for disabled sports athletes is insufficient.

Rep. Kim criticized, “I applied for a budget of 125 million won to build recovery facilities for athletes at the Disabled Athletes’ Village in Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, but not a single thing was reflected.” He added, “They say we should go to international competitions on behalf of the Republic of Korea to enhance our national prestige, but since we are disabled, they are not interested.”