- Rep. Jeong Eun-wook criticized, “It is a shame to push an absurd contract based on the association’s constitution.”
Doubts about the overall economy are increasing day by day, and the Korean Badminton Association (Chairman Kim Taek-Gi) is in conflict with Ahn Se-Yong, the world’s No. 1 player.
In particular, Ahn Se-yong was prompted for three photo shoots during the World Championships and had to participate in sponsor promotional events after the Japan Open. 20 athletes who will compete in the Asian Games in July 2023 and 11 athletes who will compete in the Olympic Games in May 2024 have also appeared in promotional ads for sponsor Yonex. There was no modeling fee or appearance fee.
The Korea Sports Council said, “There is no regulation that requires athletes to appear as free models by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) or the Korea Sports Council,” adding, “(Advertising appearances) are done by individual signatures of sponsors.” Advertising contracts are with athletes.” The Korea Sports Council accepts concessions when using player image rights, and the soccer association restricts sponsors’ rights to protect the national team’s contract rights. Although the Badminton Association has no legal basis, it is known that it has been forcing the players to appear in free advertisements according to the sponsorship contract with Yonex.
Accordingly, during the investigation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Badminton Association stated in a temporary statement on September 10 that the sponsorship contract “has nothing to do with the support of the national team and is not a reason to recognize exceptions to the law.”
Unlike badminton players such as Ahn Se-yong, table tennis bronze medalist Shin Yu-bin signed an advertising contract of her own accord. They appeared as advertisement models for Binggrae and Haenaru Rice, and each received 100 million won as their modeling fee. In the year Park Tae Hwan, who won the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, is known to be paid at least 400 to 500 million won per episode.
Rep. Jeong Eun Wook added, “The association that was supposed to support the national team mobilized the national team to get money for the association.” Development of unexpected experiences.