KSU suspends Olympic speed skater Kim Min-seok for 18 months

From left to right: Kim Min-seok, Chung Jae-won, Chung Jae-woong and Jeong Seon-kyo make their way to a disciplinary hearing at the Olympic Velodrome in Songpa, southern Seoul on Monday. [YONHAP]

Four national team speed skaters including Olympic speed skating medalist Kim Min-seok have been suspended for their involvement in a drunk driving accident near the National Training Center on July 22.

According to the Korea Skating Union (KSU), Kim, Chung Jae-woong, Chung Jae-won and Jeong Seon-kyo were drinking outside of the National Training Center in Jincheon on July 22.

The four skaters, who had all been drinking, allegedly returned to the training center in Kim's car with Chung Jae-woong driving so that they could attend a birthday party for short track skater Park Ji-yun at the Welcome Centre in the National Training Center.

After the party, Kim allegedly attempted to drive Jeong, Chung Jae-woong and Park back to their dorms, but crashed the car into a structure alongside the driveway. Security cameras captured the four walking away from the scene without reporting the accident.

According to the KSU, Park later claimed that she had left to make it to a therapy appointment, while the other three said that they had gone to get the insurance policy for the car.

A table tennis player inside the National Training Center later found the abandoned car and reported the accident.

A police investigation into the incident is currently ongoing.

On Monday, three-time Olympic medalist Kim received an 18-month ban from competing in matches while Chung Jae-woong was banned from competing for a year for drunk driving. Jeong is suspended for six months and two-time Olympic medalist Chung Jae-won is suspended for two months, both for abetting driving under the influence of alcohol and riding in the car. Park has not been suspended.

Head coach Kim Jin-su was also disciplined for his lack of oversight.

The KSU has also paused all speed skating training and ordered all five players including Park to leave the National Training Center.

Kim Min-seok is a big name in Korean speed skating, having first won silver in the men's team pursuit at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and an individual bronze in the men's 1,500 meters, becoming the first Asian athlete to medal at that distance. At this year's Beijing Winter Games, Kim won Korea's first medal in Beijing with his second consecutive 1,500-meter bronze medal.

Chung Jae-won was also part of the silver-medal winning team in the men's team pursuit at the 2018 PyeongChang Games and won the men's mass start silver medal at the 2022 Beijing Games.

BY YUN SO-HYANG [yun.sohyang@joongang.co.kr]