Provided by the Korean Volleyball Federation
During the Lunar New Year holiday, which is a national holiday, the volleyball world suddenly faced a huge bad news called’school violence’. Ahead of the holiday season, the school violence’Me Too’ against female professional volleyball players broke out, and on the 13th, the school violence Me Too against male volleyball players was further exposed. The impact is even more serious as the players who have been designated as perpetrators are the core players of the club.
It is considered meaningful crisis management that the club and the Korean Volleyball Federation quickly identified the facts and issued an official apology statement and recurrence prevention measures during the holiday season after the postings of disclosure from the Internet community were posted. This is a proof that the sports world, which became sensitive to violence, is changing after last year’s triathlon’s late Choi Sook-hyun incident. This is a desirable change. All that remains is the disciplinary level and procedure of those players. Discipline is inevitable as the clubs have said they are discussing the disciplinary process. In addition to the club’s own disciplinary action, official disciplinary action at the volleyball federation level is of interest. According to the regulations, the volleyball federation may impose discipline from warning to expulsion based on the lightness and heaviness of a player’s fault. There are also extreme voices on the Internet calling for disqualification of players. This is an expected response to some extent because there is a great social resentment to school violence. The lack of apology is also working against the players. Further exposure and criticism follow. In addition to the first revealer of being abused by a female player, another victim told the Internet community after apology from the club and the player, “I ran away to the mountain because I could not live with (the offender). If I wait for it to be quiet, it will come up one by one.” The victim who accused the male athlete of abuse is also protesting on the 14th, saying, “I cannot accept the apology.” On this day, the offender said, “I will stop playing in the game in the future. “I will reflect on my life forever” and the club accepted the policy to stop playing, but public opinion shows no sign of silence. Victims believe the apology of the club and the offender is not sincere. However, there is also an opinion that it is too much to disqualify a professional player who currently plays in the league over an incident that happened 10 years ago. It means that it can be a witch hunt for public opinion. On this day, a volleyball official said in a phone call with the 〈Hankyoreh〉, “It is clear that the players have made a mistake, but I think it is too much to disqualify a player because of past mistakes.” The highest level of disciplinary action, such as permanent expulsion from an actual sporting group, is given when a felony is revealed, such as Wang Ki-chun of Judo, recently convicted of sexual assault, or coach Cho Jae-beom of Short Track. KBO has previously disqualified those involved in the match-manipulation case. These are all cases convicted by the court. In the case of school violence, the level of sanctions has become heavier, reflecting the recent social atmosphere. In 2018, a professional baseball player was suspended from playing 50 games by the club for his full strength in school violence. Last year, a high school baseball player, who was first nominated in the draft professional baseball rookie, was unable to join the club as his history of school violence was revealed. The club and the alliance must impose appropriate disciplinary action to prevent the public opinion of’penalty with a cotton bat’. Trying to escape the situation can lead to a bigger headwind. As a result of a survey of 63,211 elementary, middle and high athletes by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in 2019, 14.7% of all respondents answered that they have experienced physical violence. If similar disclosures continue to emerge in the future, it will be out of control. This is why the attitude of ‘immediate life’ is required to go through the situation without avoiding it. The perpetrators should not end with being disciplined, but should show the sincerity of reflection through practical efforts such as volunteer activities to eradicate school violence in the future. Only then can the hearts of frozen fans and victims be melted. By Lee Jung-guk, staff reporter [email protected]