[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] The Supreme Court has upheld a guilty verdict against a judo coach who was prosecuted for forcing a female middle school judo athlete to lose weight excessively in order to participate in a national competition.
The Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) announced on the 20th that it confirmed the lower court's ruling, which sentenced the judo coach A (58) to a fine of 15 million won on charges of professional negligence resulting in death.
A, who coached a middle school judo team, was investigated for inducing excessive weight loss in athlete B (then 13 years old) six days before the national competition in July 2014. At that time, B usually competed in weight classes under 57 kg or under 52 kg, but was advised to lose weight because there were no school athletes competing in the under 48 kg weight class. To lose about 4.5 kg more within the remaining period before the competition, B combined excessive exercise and fasting, and even took half-body baths while in poor condition, which led to her death.
The first trial court stated, "It can be sufficiently recognized that the death resulted from neglecting the duty of care and supervision as a teacher," and sentenced A to one year in prison with a two-year probation. The second trial also acknowledged A's guilt but reduced the sentence to a fine of 15 million won considering that A took the judo coach position under the principal's instruction despite it not being his specialty, and that he paid 80 million won to the victim's parents as condolence money. The Supreme Court found no error in this ruling and confirmed it as is.
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