• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.101-126
• /
• 2013

As the Korea Sports Council and The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) were integrated in June 2009, the Amended Articles expunged the applicable provisions of the e Korea Sports Arbitration Committee (KSAC), which was established in Markch 2006. To successfully host international sports events, such as 2014 Incheon Asian Games and PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, the Korea Sports Arbitration Committee (KSAC) must be restored immediately. In this sense, this thesis places emphasis on the necessity of precise legal basis with the purpose of the revitalization of sports dispute settlement as well as the enhancement of the Korea Sports Arbitration Committee.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.93-119
• /
• 2016

Park Tae-hwan, the Korean Olympic gold medal swimmer, was suspended for eighteen months by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in September 2014. Park completed his suspension in March 2016, but the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC), relying on its Article 5.6, then prohibited him from joining the national team for an additional three years for the same doping violation. The KOC's penalty exceeded that provided by the World Anti-Doping Code, which governs the Olympics and most international sports federations, and contravened well-established precedent from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The KOC, along with the Korea Swimming Federation, maintained the suspension until decisions by the Seoul Eastern District Court and CAS forced them to retract the penalty. We describe the sports regulations and arbitration decisions governing the Park case, how each side used the law to support their positions, the flaws in the KOC's legal analysis, and the case's resolutions by the Korean court and CAS. Finally, because this legal conflict has damaged the KOC's reputation, created uncertainty over the committee's doping penalties, and undercut the authority of the World Anti-Doping Code and the CAS in Korea, we recommend institutional changes in Korea's sports jurisprudence.

• Journal of Arbitration Studies
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.67-89
• /
• 2016

An ADR arbitration system has a necessary value in the sports industry for settlement of disputes. Sports disputes should be resolved independently by enacting internal regulations within the basic principles of national law rather than treated as a civil action. If the dispute is not fair and transparent, it may cause distrust. Because an arbitration system has values such as speed, flexibility of economic decisions, professionalism of arbitrator and confidentiality of arbitration-related information, the efficiency of the arbitration system for conflict resolution has emerged recently. We have to assign sports experts to reactivate sports arbitration commission committees which existed from 2006 to 2009 in Korea. Many countries, such as the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, and Japan, which attain advancement of sports and the International Court of Arbitration establish and run their own sports arbitration agencies. However, Korea disbanded its sports arbitration commission committee for political and economic reasons. In 2012, after their disbanding, athlete Kim Yeon-kyoung came into conflict with Heungkuk Life over terms of free agent acquisition and international transfer certification. Finally they were able to settle those political conflicts. However if there had been related laws in Korea, they could have resolved those problems easily without international disputes. Practically, it would have been almost impossible for Kim Yeon-kyoung to win the dispute. But her problem became an issue after the London Olympics, so she could win. Although it is well for her to take an active role on the international stage, it left much to be desired on account of the intervention of political circles in order to resolve the conflict. If the sports arbitration commission committee in Korea had still been active, it could have come to a peaceful settlement domestically. Therefore we have to reestablish a Korean sports arbitration committee centered around experts of sports law.