By Baek Byung-yeul
Student athletes and coaches found guilty of school admissions fraud just once will from now on be permanently banned from their sport, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) said Tuesday.
A special task force comprised of representatives from the MCST, the Ministry of Education, the Korean Council for University Education, the National Police Agency and the Korean Olympics Committee announced the new regulation to root out corruption in admissions of student athletes in the country.
“We are aware that more strengthened sanctions cannot be a master key to the issue, but we have prepared those regulations in order to eradicate corruption,” an MCST official told reporters.
The government has been criticized for its lax admissions standards for student athletes.
Last year, baseball clubs at two of the country’s most prestigious private universities ― Yonsei University and Korea University ― were involved in an admissions fraud scandal.
Last November, police charged a manager of the Yonsei University baseball team, two high school baseball team managers, parents of student athletes and high-ranking officials at the Korea Baseball Association Seoul for committing fraud to help a high school student obtain special admission for baseball players to the school.
Also, a manager of Korea University’s baseball team was booked without detention for bribery last December.
To prevent such corruption, MCST said they have prepared a two-track strategy ― advanced prevention control with more objective measures and stronger punishment for those violating the rule.
Schools are required to evaluate student athletes based on their actual performances, minimizing interview assessments. To verify the student athletes’ athletic performance, video footage of games is provided through the Korean Olympics Committee. Moreover, when a school is involved in admissions fraud regarding student athletes, the school must report the case to the governing body of the sport.
Once a college athletic club is found guilty of admissions fraud, that club will be unable to take part in that sports competitions for a certain period. The MCST added this won’t be applied for elementary, middle and high schools.
Not only will permanent bans from the sport will be handed out to student athletes and coaches involved in at least one case of corruption, but also state funding will be withheld from universities involved in admissions fraud.