Olympic short track champion to testify in court in ex-coach's assault case
SEOUL, Dec. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Olympic short track champion Shim Suk-hee will testify in court in an assault case involving her former coach, Shim's agency said Friday.
Galaxia SM said Shim will offer her testimony during the appeals hearing of her ex-coach Cho Jae-beom at the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Court in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, on Monday.
Cho received a 10-month prison term in September for physically assaulting Shim and three other skaters, but he appealed the decision.
In this file photo from Feb. 22, 2018, Shim Suk-hee of South Korea acknowledges the crowd after clinching a berth in the semifinals of the women's 1,000-meter short track speed skating race during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics at Gangneung Ice Arena in Gangneung, 230 kilometers east of Seoul. (Yonhap)
Cho was charged with assaulting Shim and three other skaters between 2011 and January 2018. An incident involving Shim came to light in mid-January, just weeks before the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, when Shim left the national team training facility, apparently to avoid further assaults by Cho.
Cho received a lifetime ban from the Korea Skating Union (KSU) later in January. After the Olympics, the sports ministry conducted an independent probe into the case. It concluded on May 23 that Cho's alleged assault was more serious than first reported and asked the police to further investigate the matter.
Prosecutors had earlier sought a two-year sentence for Cho.
The agency said Shim had been kept out of the courtroom for emotional protection, but the 21-year-old "worked up her courage" to attend the trial. Shim had been giving her statements through her attorney but decided she needed to tell her side of the story in person, the agency added.
Shim is a two-time Olympian with four medals -- two gold, one silver and one bronze -- to her credit. Skating just weeks after the alleged assault, Shim helped South Korea to the gold in the women's 3,000-meter relay. It was her second consecutive gold in the relay event.
In this file photo from Sept. 12, 2018, Cho Jae-beom, former coach of the South Korean national short track speed skating team, enters the Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Court in Seongnam, south of Seoul, for a hearing over charges that he assaulted athletes. Cho was sentenced to 10 months in prison on Sept. 19. (Yonhap)
jeeho@yna.co.kr
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