Former Asian Games Gold Medalist Coach Arrested
Sports Committee Issues Apology and Suspends Staff... Reviewing Armory Management System
The unauthorized external leakage of 20,000 live rounds of ammunition from the Jincheon National Training Center in North Chungcheong Province, where national athletes train, has caused significant controversy.
On December 19, JTBC and other outlets reported that a shooting team coach, referred to as Mr. A, affiliated with a metropolitan city sports council, is under arrest and currently being investigated by the police on these charges. Mr. A is a former national team member who won two gold medals at the Asian Games and has been working as a coach for a professional team since his retirement.
According to reports, in February, Mr. A visited the ammunition storage at the Jincheon Training Center shooting range to receive ammunition for national team training. He then secretly took out 20,000 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition out of a total of 100,000 rounds. This act was captured by the storage facility's internal CCTV.
The Jincheon Training Center armory is a strictly controlled facility. Shooting athletes are required to record every instance of ammunition use, and police approval is mandatory for any external removal. However, investigations found that Mr. A exploited a lapse in supervision by the management staff to siphon off a portion of the ammunition.
The leaked .22 caliber rounds are commonly used for hunting, especially with modified homemade firearms. As a result, these rounds are reportedly traded on the black market at prices more than ten times their official value. Industry insiders have expressed concern, stating, "We cannot rule out the possibility that this ammunition was distributed illegally."
The incident has also sparked debate over the Korea Sports & Olympic Committee's management oversight. The committee conducted a comprehensive inspection and on-site check of the Jincheon Training Center armory in October last year and announced that "no issues were found." However, during subsequent investigations, it was belatedly discovered that some ammunition had been taken out without following proper procedures.
In response, the committee issued an official apology on December 18, stating that the shooting range manager and those responsible for the comprehensive inspection and reporting had been removed from their duties. Yoo Seungmin, President of the Korea Sports & Olympic Committee, said, "As the head of the institution, I regret that we failed to fully clarify the details of this past incident," and added, "We will prevent recurrence through strict measures against those involved and improvements to our management system."
The committee has also conducted a special audit of the Korea Shooting Federation as a follow-up to the National Assembly audit, and announced plans to thoroughly re-investigate the ammunition inflow and outflow records at the armory to clarify the facts and actively cooperate with investigative authorities.
The police are expanding their investigation to cover the overall case, including Mr. A's motives and the distribution route of the leaked ammunition.
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