KSU postpones decision on latest sexual harrasment case

SHORT TRACK

The national skating federation on Thursday postponed a decision on whether to punish a male short tracker on charges of sexually harassing a teammate.

The Korea Skating Union (KSU) held a disciplinary meeting earlier in the day to discuss a potential penalty on the skater, following an incident with a younger, male teammate. Both were medalists at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.

On June 25, the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) belatedly disclosed that the older skater pulled down the pants of his junior during training, with their female teammates present, at the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, North Chungcheong, on June 17.

The younger skater reported the incident to his coach, who in turn informed the KSU of the situation.

As an initial punishment, the KSOC decided to ban all 14 skaters on the national team from the Jincheon training center for a month.

The KSU said it needed to gather more evidence regarding the incident, noting that the two principal parties gave conflicting accounts of the situation.

The incident is the latest black eye on a sport that has been marred by unsavory scandals in recent months.

Former national team coach Cho Jae-beom was convicted of physically assaulting Olympic champion Shim Suk-hee in January, and Cho will stand trial on separate charges of sexually assaulting Shim.

Yonhap