[Asia Economy Reporter Bae Kyunghwan] The late triathlete Choi Sook-hyun, who suffered abuse from her coach and teammates before making an extreme choice last year, has been approved for industrial accident compensation. This is the first time such a ruling has been made in the sports sector rather than a general workplace.
According to the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service under the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 21st, the Service's Occupational Disease Judgment Committee recently approved the claim for survivor benefits filed by Choi's bereaved family as an industrial accident.
Choi, who belonged to the Gyeongju City Triathlon team, expressed suffering due to abuse from the team coach and teammates and made an extreme choice in June last year. The recordings collected before Choi's death include the coach verbally abusing Choi for failing to control her weight and the athletic trainer physically assaulting her multiple times.
Accordingly, the court sentenced former Gyeongju City Hall team coach Kim Gyubong to 7 years in prison, athletic trainer Ahn Juhyun to 8 years, and former captain Jang Yoonjung to 4 years in prison in the first trial. The bereaved family appealed, claiming the sentences were too light.
Meanwhile, in a psychiatric examination in 2019, Choi was diagnosed with adjustment disorder, experiencing "emotional instability, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, accompanied by decreased self-control, impulsivity, suicidal thoughts, and self-harm."
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