Yuna’s boyfriend expelled from team

Kim Won-jung, an ice hockey player better known as the boyfriend of figure skating star Kim Yuna, will forfeit his status as a member of the national team as punishment for being absent without leave during his military service.

Kim, a 30-year-old sergeant of the military’s Korea Armed Forces Athletic Corps, was involved in a car accident on return to his lodging with two fellow sports corps soldiers, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday.

The three soldiers and the coach did not report the accident to the military until an anonymous source tipped off the Defense Ministry on July 30.

The ministry cited this as another reason for the punishment.

The three soldiers were recently chosen as Korean national ice hockey athletes and were allowed to join team exercises at the Taereung National Training Center in northeastern Seoul, starting June 16. They were also permitted to stay at the team’s accommodation in Ilsan, Gyeonggi.

At around 9 p.m. on June 27, the three told their coach they would leave their lodging to buy some drinks and drove to a Thai massage shop three kilometers (1.8 miles) away without receiving official permission.

On their return, they were run into by a drunken driver.

The car was owned and driven by a sergeant surnamed Lee.

Kim was hospitalized for more than a month to repair a ligament tear on his right leg caused by the accident. The other two received light injuries.

Kim will be dropped from the national team and the sports division, the ministry said, and transferred to an ordinary Army unit.

Kim is supposed to finish his mandatory military service in September.

BY KIM HEE-JIN [heejin@joongang.co.kr ]