"No stain on the time of retirement is acceptable"

Oh Ji-young, who was suspended for one year for bullying his team's juniors, decided to request a retrial against the Korean Volleyball Federation and file a lawsuit with the court asking for the cancellation of the disciplinary action.

Jeong Min-hoe, a lawyer representing Oh Ji-young, told the Hankyoreh on Friday that she will submit an application for retrial to the Volleyball Federation on Tuesday, but added, "Oh Ji-young also thinks retrial is meaningless. We have no choice but to file a lawsuit with the court to confirm the nullification of the disciplinary action." Rather than hoping for the result of the retrial, the court will decide what is wrong with her. During the retrial process, there is no separate retrial committee, and the president of the Volleyball Federation conducts deliberation.

Pepper Savings Bank reported it to the Volleyball Federation on the 15th after investigating allegations that Oh Ji-young continued to harass two junior players. After holding the second reward and punishment committee until the 27th, the Volleyball Federation decided that Oh Ji-young's human rights violation was a "serious antisocial act and a bad practice that should be eradicated from professional sports in the future."

Regarding Oh Ji-young's harassment, the two sides' arguments are mixed. Oh Ji-young's side claims, "When the victims, who were non-players, left the training site and caused a car accident, Oh Ji-young, a veteran, reprimanded them and the victims left complaining of bullying in the process," while Pepper Savings Bank, which conducted the investigation, claims that "the team confirmed the bullying behavior through its own investigation." Lee Jang-ho, chairman of the Volleyball Federation's Reward and Punishment Committee, who presided over the two-time Reward and Punishment Committee, said, "Although the two sides' arguments are different, I thought that it could be clearly judged as a human rights violation when combined with confirmation letters from fellow players."

Oh Ji-young is willing to fight a lawsuit because she believes that she cannot resign in disgrace ahead of her retirement. Pepper Savings Bank terminated her contract with Oh Ji-young immediately after the ruling by the Volleyball Federation. Oh Ji-young signed a three-year contract worth a total of 1 billion won with Pepper Savings Bank in April 2023, which will effectively lead to her retirement. "The player himself does not consider his economic interests because he was planning to retire," lawyer Chung said. "I think leaving unsavory cases at the time of retirement is unacceptable in his volleyball life."

In addition to the lawsuit against the Volleyball Federation, Oh Ji-young plans to conduct an additional "lawsuit to confirm invalidity of contract termination" against Pepper Savings Bank, which notified the termination of the contract.

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