“Unfair disciplinary action for leaking live ammunition”... Inadequate response to the Sports Council that has come to light again (comprehensive)

Yoo Seung-min, Sports Council President, "We will take strict action if misconduct is confirmed."

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Dae-ho Lee = On the 21st, during the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's audit of government affairs including the Korea Sports Council, the controversy over the Korea Sports Council's poor response and unfair disciplinary action surrounding the Jincheon National Team Athletes' Village live ammunition leak incident that occurred in the past came to the fore.

Jin Seon-mi, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, pointed out that during the self-audit and disciplinary process for the leak of 10,000 rounds of practice ammunition that occurred at the Jincheon Athletes' Village in February 2025, "Due to the shooting range management system at the time, the head of the training planning department and head of the training headquarters, who was a direct superior, was excluded from the audit."

Rep. Jin criticized, “It is difficult to agree with the fact that disciplinary action was avoided on the grounds that it was a formal system as no report has been received even once for 15 years,” adding, “The shooting range in general should have been inspected and reported at least once.”

In particular, it was pointed out as a problem that the head of the headquarters was promoted to vice president after Yoo Seung-min took office as president of the Sports Council.

Rep. Jin said, "The vice-chancellor in question was the one who, after becoming aware of the leak, ordered the media to issue a press release saying, 'There is no problem,'" and added, "When the executive was referred to the disciplinary committee, a request was made to recuse the vice-chancellor, but the vice-chancellor kept his position, and in the end, only the executive who wrote the press release was disciplined."

In response to this, President Yoo Seung-min of the Korea Sports Council explained, "When we ordered a full investigation after the government inspection last year, we issued a press release because there was an internal report that there was no problem," but responded, "I understand that there was a problem with the reporting system between the athletes' village head, management headquarters director, and department heads at the time."

Chairman Yoo went on to express his intention to reinvestigate, saying, “We take the criticism seriously, we will carefully reexamine our internal procedures, and if any misconduct is confirmed, we will take strict action.”

In the afternoon, questions were asked to Shin Dong-kwang, Vice President of the Korea Sports Council, who appeared as a witness.

Rep. Jin raised his voice, saying, "At the time of the live ammunition leak incident, Vice President Shin was the head of the training planning department and head of the training headquarters, who was in charge of management and supervision of the shooting range, and while avoiding disciplinary action, he took over as chairman of the disciplinary committee and directed the disciplinary action of the working-level staff."

Vice President Shin, who appeared as a witness, explained, "I never ordered the false information to be written, and I was informed that there was no problem at the time," but bowed his head and said, "I am blaming myself for the unfairness that the person subject to disciplinary action felt, and I was wrong."

Chairman Yoo Seung-min also acknowledged that it was "inappropriate" for Vice-Chancellor Shin to serve as chairman of the disciplinary committee, and responded, "As head, I would like to express my regrets to those who were subject to disciplinary action and those who felt uncomfortable due to not being able to take care of it thoroughly. I will look after it carefully and separately report the progress, including the reinvestigation, to the member of the National Assembly."