Assault Incident Involving Olympics Champion Sa Jae Hyouk Unveils The Reality of Physical Violence in Sports Industry

After the alleged hitting and assaulting incident of the 20-year-old Hwang Woo Man, a young weightlifter, Sa Jae Hyouk received a suspension order from the Korea Weightlifting Federation Monday.

The former 2008 Beijing Olympics champion has been subjected to a 10-year suspension after inflicting injuries to Hwang Woo Man. During the police investigation, the 31-year-old Sa admitted that he hit Hwang on the face while they were attending a year-end gathering in Gangwon Province. The incident brought Hwang to the hospital because of cheekbone fractures, which subjected him for a six-week recovery.

"The decision was made quickly as it was such a grave incident and created a big stir," said the spokesperson of the Korea Weightlifting Federation.

Meanwhile, police investigations also found out similar slapping incident of Sa against Hwang while on training February last year. According to an article published in The Korea Times, Sa admitted that he had hit Hwang after becoming agitated because of a "misunderstanding."

The suspension order given to Sa is expected to affect his professional athletic career significantly.

Reports said that this kind of violent incident and physical assault scandals among professional athletes have created a trend in the Korean sports industry. In fact, the Korean Olympic Committee have designated violence as an "axis of evil" as well as corruptions in both athletes' admission and operating organizations and illegal gambling on sports in 2014.

According to a Citizen's Solidarity for Human Rights official, while athletes are trained "to endure frustration and anger," athletes who suffer a significant degree of violence are facing more chances of becoming more abusive.

"It is about time that they need to change their stance, recognizing that violence in any form is intolerable on any occasion," he said.

Professor Lee Sue Jeong, an educator at the Kyonggi University, suggested that in order to prevent the occurrence of alleged violent and abuse cases, authorities should establish a monitoring agency that has the power to investigate such cases.

"Those subject to abuse should be allowed to voice their experiences more openly, without the fear of being persecuted by the alleged abusers," Lee said.