"Kick once, Navy Headquarters son-in-law, give me a first-degree belt"... Former Seoul Taekwondo Association President Sentenced to Prison for Fake Grading: "First Trial Acquittal Overturned → Second Trial Conviction"

*This content was translated by AI.

The former president of the Seoul Taekwondo Association, accused of falsely issuing a black belt certificate to his son-in-law with no taekwondo background, was sentenced to prison in the second trial.

According to legal sources on the 5th, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Appeal Division 5-3 (Judges Kim Ji-sun, Song Byung-jin, and Kim Yong-jung (Director)) overturned the first trial's acquittal of Lim Mo, former president of the Seoul Taekwondo Association, who was charged with obstruction of business, and sentenced him to eight months in prison. The court also revoked the first trial's verdict for Oh Mo, former vice-president and brother-in-law of Lim Jeon (Chairman), sentencing him to four months in prison with a two-year probation.

Lim Jeon (Chairman), former vice-president Oh, and former vice-president Sun Mo, currently a professor at the Police University's Department of Physical Education, were indicted for conducting fraudulent grading procedures, including awarding a first-degree black belt to Lim's son-in-law, Lee Mo, in March 2011 under the guise of hiring personnel for the association.

The first trial court recognized only the charges against former vice-president Sun, sentencing him to six months in prison with a two-year probation, while acquitting Lim Jeon (Chairman) and former vice-president Oh due to insufficient evidence.

However, the second trial court ruled that "the special grading procedure was formally staged under Lim Jeon (Chairman)'s instructions, and it is sufficiently established that former vice-president Oh knowingly participated in the fraudulent grading through tacit collusion," thereby overturning the acquittal verdict.

Meanwhile, association officials indicted for involvement in match-fixing during the Seoul City preliminary selection for the 2013 National Sports Festival maintained their guilty verdicts in the second trial. This case was triggered when a father of a player who lost due to biased judging left a suicide note and took extreme action.

Additionally, defendants involved in other association scandals, including biased judging in the group event of the 2013 Autumn Taekwondo Tournament and accepting requests for high school coach appointments in 2009, mostly had their first trial sentences—ranging from fines of 3 million won to eight months in prison—upheld in the second trial.

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*This content was translated by AI.