Gimpo Police Station in Gyeonggi Province said on the 5th that it has booked four people without detention, including A, head coach of a middle school youth soccer team, B, and two coaches, on charges of child abuse under the Child Welfare Act
These soccer leaders are accused of abusing a teenage C of Gimpo FC youth team with verbal abuse or physical punishment from 2020 to April last year
However, they reportedly made a statement to the police to deny the allegations
C made an extreme choice at the dormitory building in Gimpo at around 2 a.m. on April 27 last year after leaving a suicide note stating that there was bullying, including verbal abuse, by listing the names of soccer team coaches and fellow players on social networking service SNS
The police booked eight of C’s teammates without detention on charges of insulting them, but decided not to send them away without charge because no special circumstances were revealed
A police official said, “As a result of investigating soccer leaders, we decided to send them to the prosecution because we judged that abusive language or physical punishment to C constitutes emotional abuse.”
The bereaved family of C asked Gimpo City to dismiss the leaders of the Gimpo FC youth team, saying the club did not follow up on its own after the incident Gimpo City plans to conduct an audit and review whether to take disciplinary action
The Korea Football Association has also begun disciplinary proceedings against these leaders