Oh Ji Young’s alleged harassment of her juniors is heading to the truth. As Oh announced her appeal of the Korean Volleyball Organization’s (KOVO) punishment committee’s decision to suspend her from the sport for one year, one of her juniors, Lee Min-seo, took to social media (SNS) to express her frustration.
KOVO held a second punishment committee on the 27th, confirming that Oh had committed human rights violations such as harassment and verbal abuse against junior players A and B, and confirmed the one-year suspension. This is the first time that KOVO has ever taken disciplinary action for harassment between seniors and juniors within the organization. It is also the highest level of severe disciplinary action under the rules set forth by the Korea 메이저 토토사이트 Athletes’ Rights Protection Committee.
Although Oh did not directly assault his juniors or physically harm them, such as gathering them for an icebreaker, his words during training and on social media (SNS) were deemed abusive. According to the commission, it was found that Oh had been harassing his juniors since June last year, and various evidence confirmed that there were human rights violations such as harassment and verbal abuse.
In response, Oh announced a retrial. According to Yonhap News Agency, Jung Min-ho, a lawyer who appeared with Oh at the punishment committee, said, “Our case was not fully heard. There are additional materials we can submit. We will request a retrial.” Oh claimed that she was always close to junior player A, and that she did not have much contact with player B.
However, one of the juniors, Lee Min-seo, took to social media to refute Oh’s claims. In a post, Lee Min-seo wrote, “From the end of June 2023 until the day I left the team, I was constantly bullied. If someone acted in a way that she (Oh) didn’t like, I had to dislike them too and not be close to them. If she was close to someone she didn’t like, she would point it out, so she was always judged for her relationship with the players and cried a lot.”
Lee Min-seo went on to list other instances of harassment, including the story of how Oh Ji-young openly criticized her weight on the training grounds, how she was called names and verbally abused on numerous occasions even when she was there to comfort her, and how she was always on call and had to run whenever Oh Ji-young called her.
In her story, Lee also shared her diary from that time to express her feelings of injustice. “I thought that if my sister knew that the reason I left the team was because of you, I wouldn’t be able to play volleyball in the unemployment team,” she said, explaining that she deliberately replied to the messages in an over-the-top manner so that she wouldn’t notice.
He said, “I don’t know why you turned your arrow on me when you should be fighting the Gudan. I think you’ve got the wrong pint,” and he said, “You’ve been bullying me. Everybody knows it, everybody has seen it, everybody has heard it. Everybody knows I was struggling, everybody knows I left (the team) because of my sister, so why do you keep lying to me?”
The suspension pushed Oh to the brink of retirement. At the age of 35, a one-year ban is devastating. Her camp will appeal the decision. The case is expected to be a battle of truths, as her junior Lee Min-seo has taken to social media to directly refute her claims.