Cho Jae-beom, former coach of the national short track team and his family, who are accused of leaking ‘private text messages’ of former national short track speed skater Shim Seok-hee, have been handed over to the prosecution.
The Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency’s Women’s and Juvenile Crime Investigation Unit announced on the 17th that it had forwarded Cho and others to the prosecution on charges of defamation.
Cho and his family are accused of damaging Shim’s reputation by leaking a private text message that Shim shared with coach A before and following the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
The text message shared by Shim and Coach A contained ‘suspected of disrespecting colleagues and intentional clashes’.
It is known that Cho used Shim’s private text message in his sexual assault trial.
In September of last year, the police conducted an investigation (introspection) of Cho before he was arrested on the matter, and in October of the same year, the investigation continued, such as securing a storage medium through a search and seizure of the residence of the Cho family.
Around the same time, a media outlet reported on Shim’s suspicions of disrespecting his teammates and intentional clashes, and the Korea Skating Federation conducted an investigation into the controversy.
As a result of this disciplinary action, Shim was disqualified from participating in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Meanwhile, Cho, who was previously charged with sexual assault by Shim, was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the Supreme Court in December last year.
(Suwon = News 1)
