The Tennis Association declares a full-scale war with the Korean Sports Council → Chairman Joo Won-hong "Application for provisional injunction for suspension of effectiveness + lawsuits for invalidity"

Jul 10, 2024

Joo Won-hong, president of the Korea Tennis Association.

Request for withdrawal of the plan to designate a governing body of the Tennis Professionals Association

The Korea Tennis Association (hereinafter referred to as the Association), designated as a 'gwan organization' by the Korea Sports Association (hereinafter referred to as the Sports Association), has declared an all-out war. Joo Won-hong, president of the Korea Tennis Association, said "We also apply for an injunction to suspend the effectiveness and file an invalidation lawsuit together. It is difficult to understand the decision of the sports association, he said, saying, "We have no choice but to take legal action."

The Sports Council officially announced on the 10th that it has designated an association facing financial and operational difficulties as a managing organization. All association executives will be dismissed. All rights and powers of the association are suspended and the sports association is in charge of the overall business.

Sports associations questioned procedures, and trust was questioned by the association. The association's debt to 'Media Will' is about KRW 4.6 billion (KRW 4,637,872,047 as of June 20, 2024) is the cause of the problem. The Korea Tennis Association said it would not designate it as a management organization as long as the sports association settled this debt. The association has to be designated as a management organization to pay back the money." The Sports Council rejected this 'conditional' promise. The association did not trust the sports association, saying, "What if it becomes a management organization even though the debt was canceled?" Here, the two sides ran parallel.

The association is uneasy. The presidency of the association has been vacant since September 2023. After the resignation of former chairman Chung Hee-kyun, he pushed for a by-election. For one reason or another, it did not happen until June this year. In October last year, the Korean Sports Council suspended the association's by-election for the wrong composition of the electors. The Sports Council asked the Board of Audit and Inspection to audit the association in November. The Board of Audit and Inspection closed its investigation in April this year by disposing of 'no benefit'. Since then, the issue of management organizations has erupted. In the end, the association held its own election last month and elected Chairman Joo Won-hong. Chairman Joo said "We can't trust the sports association from our point of view. The auditor of the Board of Audit and Inspection also said there was no problem. We can just resume the election, but we suddenly decided to designate a management organization, so this is what happened," he claimed.

Lee Ki-heung, chairman of the Korea Sports Council.

The position of the Sports Council is clear. If you settle the debt first, there is no problem. A sports association official said "If the debt disappears, the reason for designating the management organization will be extinguished. How can we (designate a management organization) when the prerequisites are gone. And even in the situation of a management organization, if the reason disappears, it will recover even in the middle." Even procedurally, we could not accept the conditional proposal. An official from the Korea Sports Council said, "If it is not designated as a management organization, there is no clear reference point in the condition of " itself. Doesn't it mean that we'll continue to see each other in the future. We also have a feeling of injustice, which was done according to the regulations, but now the law enforcement agency will judge."

Chairman Joo Won-hong was confident of a head-on breakthrough. "Application for provisional injunction for suspension of effectiveness and invalidation litigation are also filed. There is no choice but to take legal action. As for pushing ahead with the election in the face of the designation of a management organization "We just had an election to quickly solve the debt problem and normalize the association, but there is no other meaning." The legal review results are all in our favor. From our point of view, the designation of a management organization is too unfair.'

Reporter Han Dong-hoon dhhan@sportschosun.com

dhhan@sportschosun.com