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Korean women curlers inspired the nation with their spirited display at the Sochi Winter Olympics. Then the Olympics ended and so did the feel-good story.
The Korea Curling Federation (KCF) in April imposed a lifetime ban on the team's male assistant coach Choi Min-suk, 35, after the players revealed he had sexually harassed them.
Head coach Chung Young-sup, 58, received a five-year suspension for verbally abusing the athletes and failing to return the balance of unused training grants to them.
The KCF acted after four team members ― Um Min-ji, 23, Lee Suel-bee, 26, Kim Ji-sun, 27 and Gim Un-ji, 24 ― left their team, run by the Gyeonggi Provincial Government, in late March in protest against Choi's behavior.
Chung and Choi now appear to have run into further trouble.
Seoul police believe the coaches illegally obtained an extra 17 million won (about $16,600) from government funds by overstating the team's expenses on restaurants and accommodation from 2011 to early this year.
"We have sent to case to the prosecution with the opinion that Chung and Choi be indicted,'' said an official at Sonpa district police department in southern Seoul.
"The inflated spending reports required cooperation from the owners of the restaurants and accommodation facilities.
"However, we also found that the coaches did not use the extra money for personal purposes ― most of it was used for paying entrance fees in competitions or buying uniforms.
"With curling being a minority sport, the team had struggled to find corporate sponsors.''
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