Korean skating news & updates

[Wyliefan]

Skaters A and B are the perpetrators and both believed to be female senior skaters. Skater C, the victim, is a male junior skater.

 

[Karen-W]

I’m trying to follow along with all of the posts so is skater b a junior skater?

No. Skater A is a senior female skater who molested/assaulted Skater C who is a junior male skater. Skater B who is also a senior female skater took photos of Skater A, which is classified as sexual harassment. Skater A has been suspended for 3 years, Skater B has been suspended for 1 year.

 

[Wyliefan]

I thought the photos were sent to Skater C, as part of the ongoing harassment of him?

 

[On My Own]

I’m trying to follow along with all of the posts so is skater b a junior skater?

Skaters A and B are the female skaters who'd been reported to have been drinking alcohol in their dorm rooms. Skater C is the male skater who entered the female skaters' dorm. This time, it was reported that Skater C is a junior. The rest is on the twitter thread.

 

[On My Own]

The AnythingGOE tweet doesn't say anything about sending the photos. Just that Skater B took Skater A's photos.

During the investigation it was discovered that as well as drinking, Skater A had sexually harassed Junior Skater C. Skater A has been suspended for 3 years. Skater B has a 1 year suspension for drinking and taking sexually offensive photos of Skater A

 

[Karen-W]

I thought the photos were sent to Skater C, as part of the ongoing harassment of him?

Yeah, I fixed my post, lol.

 

[Karen-W]

The AnythingGOE tweet doesn't say anything about sending the photos. Just that Skater B took Skater A's photos.

During the investigation it was discovered that as well as drinking, Skater A had sexually harassed Junior Skater C. Skater A has been suspended for 3 years. Skater B has a 1 year suspension for drinking and taking sexually offensive photos of Skater A

Hmmmm... Fair point. I thought there was something implied about sending photos.

 

[On My Own]

Yes, there is an AnythingGOE tweet that mentions photos.

I quoted that tweet. I said that it doesn't say anything about sending those photos, whether to Skater C or someone else.

 

[Karen-W]

I quoted that tweet. I said that it doesn't say anything about sending those photos, whether to Skater C or someone else.

Sorry. I edited my original post. I think there are some other tweets out there that indicate photos were sent but that doesn't seem to be a part of the SBS news article. There are other tweets out there that identify Skaters A & B and it's pretty shocking. I do hope that Skater C is left unidentified since he is a junior skater and should be afforded that privacy.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

No. Skater A is a senior female skater who molested/assaulted Skater C who is a junior male skater. Skater B who is also a senior female skater took photos of Skater A, which is classified as sexual harassment. Skater A has been suspended for 3 years, Skater B has been suspended for 1 year.

Oh wow in reading the post from Twitter earlier today in this thread, it made it sound like I assumed a senior male was inappropriate with a junior female.

 

[Willin]

Hmmmm... Fair point. I thought there was something implied about sending photos.

I quoted that tweet. I said that it doesn't say anything about sending those photos, whether to Skater C or someone else.

I've seen a lot of fans saying that Skater B took photos of the assault and then sent them to Skater C, but there is no actual evidence or documentation of this. I think it's mostly younger fans on social media taking the story and running with it to try to crucify skater B as hard as skater A - I'm assuming that because it fits with the oddly morally puritanical behavior we see from younger social media users.

Honestly now I get why this was such a big deal. Both A and B deserve punishment for sure. But why punish C?

 

[Karen-W]

Honestly now I get why this was such a big deal. Both A and B deserve punishment for sure. But why punish C?

Skater C has not been punished based on the reports I've read.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

Skater C has not been punished based on the reports I've read.

But skater C walked into the room when that skater should not have ?

 

[kwanfan1818]

According to Anything GOEs,

Junior Skater C received a reprimand for entering the women’s dormitory.Skater B plans to request a retrial, Skater A has not yet requested a retrial.

https://x.com/AnythingGOE/status/1804129832264999282

There's a link from news.sbs.co.kr in the tweet.

 

[Karen-W]

But skater C walked into the room when that skater should not have ?

We don't have enough information about what happened or why C went to the female dorm. There are any number of plausible reasons why he went to their room - if he went there of his own volition or because they invited him and he didn't think anything bad would happen then perhaps he should also be sanctioned; but if he was pressured or bullied into going then perhaps a sanction is unwarranted. It is also possible that he has been disciplined but because he is a junior skater the exact nature of the sanctions are being kept private.

 

[chameleonster]

I've seen a lot of fans saying that Skater B took photos of the assault and then sent them to Skater C, but there is no actual evidence or documentation of this. I think it's mostly younger fans on social media taking the story and running with it to try to crucify skater B as hard as skater A - I'm assuming that because it fits with the oddly morally puritanical behavior we see from younger social media users.

Honestly now I get why this was such a big deal. Both A and B deserve punishment for sure. But why punish C?

There are multiple reports going around, and in one of them https://m.sports.naver.com/general/article/001/0014762452
it's said that Skater B took a sexual picture of Skater A without her consent and showed it to Skater C. It's been talked about on reddit and other places, so that's what people are responding to, not just what AnythingGOEs reported.

EDIT: To clarify it's not I think stated that what Skater B took photos of was the assault, it sounds like the picture was of Skater A by herself, although I don't want to speculate too much on an article being run through translation. But there may be some confusion there.

 

[Karen-W]

There are multiple reports going around, and in one of them https://m.sports.naver.com/general/article/001/0014762452
it's said that Skater B took a sexual picture of Skater A without her consent and showed it to Skater C. It's been talked about on reddit and other places, so that's what people are responding to, not just what AnythingGOEs reported.

Jeez. If that's the case then I'd throw the book at Skater B too and give her the same length of suspension as Skater A.

 

[On My Own]

Apparently Korean news channel KBS gave it away by showing very blurry videos of the skaters A and B - but it was obvious due to the costumes making it easy to recognize them. Will only post the tweet I saw here if I should?

 

[Karen-W]

Apparently Korean news channel KBS gave it away by showing very blurry videos of the skaters A and B - but it was obvious due to the costumes making it easy to recognize them. Will only post the tweet I saw here if I should?

Please do! I see no reason to conceal the identities of two grown adult women.

 

[chameleonster]

Please do! I see no reason to conceal the identities of two grown adult women.

x.com

x.com

This was speculated on previously as they are the only two adult female skaters at the camp, but it has been confirmed by the news, as that blur does nothing to conceal their identities from figure skating fans. Not sure which is Skater A and which is Skater B.

 

[On My Own]

Please do! I see no reason to conceal the identities of two grown adult women.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1804158410172305818

We don't yet know who specifically is A and who is B (although did see some intense speculation on various places).

People seem to be respecting Skater C's identity. Hopefully it stays that way.

 

[Karen-W]

x.com

x.com

This was speculated on previously as they are the only two adult female skaters at the camp, but it has been confirmed by the news, as that blur does nothing to conceal their identities from figure skating fans. Not sure which is Skater A and which is Skater B.

Okay, what is the point of blurring the skaters as they're skating? That's just dumb. You're right, it does nothing to conceal their identities from FS fans. Absolute fail by KBS, lol.

 

[On My Own]

Okay, what is the point of blurring the skaters as they're skating? That's just dumb. You're right, it does nothing to conceal their identities from FS fans. Absolute fail by SBS, lol.

I won't be shocked if they knew what they were doing. No way KBS didn't know that Korean fs fans would figure it out in seconds, and that it'd leak to our social media within seconds after that too.

 

[Karen-W]

There are multiple reports going around, and in one of them https://m.sports.naver.com/general/article/001/0014762452
it's said that Skater B took a sexual picture of Skater A without her consent and showed it to Skater C. It's been talked about on reddit and other places, so that's what people are responding to, not just what AnythingGOEs reported.

EDIT: To clarify it's not I think stated that what Skater B took photos of was the assault, it sounds like the picture was of Skater A by herself, although I don't want to speculate too much on an article being run through translation. But there may be some confusion there.

It was pointed out on Xwitter that Skater A's agency is unable to contact her at this time and they're unable to issue a statement at this time. Some astute Xwitter-ites have pointed out that Young You is not currently signed/represented by any agency while Haein Lee does have an agent/representation. Therefore, the deduction is that A is Haein and B is Young.

Additionally, the Training Camp Leader "was suspended for three months due to careless management of the players."

Here is a good summary of what is known so far -

https://twitter.com/x/status/1804252510066246136

 

[Holy Headband]

I'm not sure how this incident reached the ears of KSU, but if it was Skater C himself who reported it, it must have taken a lot of courage. I won't speculate about his identity, but there weren't that many junior male skaters at that camp, and Skaters A and B have a lot of fans, so unfortunately I won't be surprised if he's outed sooner or later.

If that happens, I really hope the fans in Korea and abroad will show him some love and this incident won't affect his competitive career too deeply, and of course that it won't scar him for life on a more personal level either. It sounds quite messy, with disturbing power dynamics and age differences at play: two older girl ganging up on him, calling him to their rooms, one of them assaulting him, then the other one taking explicit pictures of the first girl and sending them to him, etc. Just yikes. When it's laid out like that, it looks like group bullying (by people who were also harassing each other, and drinking alcohol together frequently) that took place over time, not just a one-time assault. That may be why he reported it; many male victims of sexual harassment and assault process their experiences as consensual or not a big deal, but bullying is easier to spot and harder to rationalize when it's happening to you.

Anyway. My heart goes out to him and I wish there was a way to let him know we're on his side... but I imagine most teenagers would hate the extra attention from strangers in a situation like that and would like it if people just pretended they didn't know anything, so.

Skaters A and B should never compete internationally again, obviously. I'm not Korean, so my opinion is not worth much, but I hope KSU buries their careers. I don't understand why people do things like this, I really don't. You're young, you're in Italy, someone else is paying for your trip and you want to drink and have fun in the evening after working hard all day—fine! If you want to break some rules and run wild, go to a nightclub and find yourself a hot Italian boy your age to flirt with. Why flex your seniority over a younger teammate to humiliate him? How is that more fun?

 

[Willin]

I'm sure fans in Korea will blame C for everything. Young You in particular has a rabid fanbase, but all the Korean ladies have quite a crazy following...

I'm also still not seeing where there's any official confirmation that B sent the pictures she took of A to skater C or that there were any photos of the assault. None of the reliable sources or translations are reporting that - only the ones that seem to be more fan account-esque are. And while we know who the two skaters are, it's useless to speculate who was A and who was B until we get official word, and there's only useless gossip and speculation now. It could go either way.

Mostly I'm annoyed by the people uselessly speculating. It's only making the situation worse, and only will hurt all three skaters. Any Korean Junior male skater at that camp is going to be harrassed by crazy fans. Both Haein and Young will face severe harassment (which, isn't the official punishment enough? That will cost at least one a trip to the Olympics) - and both will be labeled as sexual predators for the rest of their lives/careers. We've already seen how fans are equating A and B and possibly making stuff up to hurt both equally professionally.

 

[chameleonster]

It's sad that the bar is so low, but I appreciate that KSU acted so swiftly and decisively in this matter. Sanctioning their top two senior women will likely impact their ability to get spots for the Olympics, but they are rightfully putting skating second. We can debate if the punishment is enough, but I'm sadly so shocked to see any significant action taken in a timely manner.

 

[kwanette]

I'm not sure how this incident reached the ears of KSU, but if it was Skater C himself who reported it, it must have taken a lot of courage. I won't speculate about his identity, but there weren't that many junior male skaters at that camp, and Skaters A and B have a lot of fans, so unfortunately I won't be surprised if he's outed sooner or later.

If that happens, I really hope the fans in Korea and abroad will show him some love and this incident won't affect his competitive career too deeply, and of course that it won't scar him for life on a more personal level either. It sounds quite messy, with disturbing power dynamics and age differences at play: two older girl ganging up on him, calling him to their rooms, one of them assaulting him, then the other one taking explicit pictures of the first girl and sending them to him, etc. Just yikes. When it's laid out like that, it looks like group bullying (by people who were also harassing each other, and drinking alcohol together frequently) that took place over time, not just a one-time assault. That may be why he reported it; many male victims of sexual harassment and assault process their experiences as consensual or not a big deal, but bullying is easier to spot and harder to rationalize when it's happening to you.

Anyway. My heart goes out to him and I wish there was a way to let him know we're on his side... but I imagine most teenagers would hate the extra attention from strangers in a situation like that and would like it if people just pretended they didn't know anything, so.

Skaters A and B should never compete internationally again, obviously. I'm not Korean, so my opinion is not worth much, but I hope KSU buries their careers. I don't understand why people do things like this, I really don't. You're young, you're in Italy, someone else is paying for your trip and you want to drink and have fun in the evening after working hard all day—fine! If you want to break some rules and run wild, go to a nightclub and find yourself a hot Italian boy your age to flirt with. Why flex your seniority over a younger teammate to humiliate him? How is that more fun?

 

[kwanette]

." You're young, you're in Italy, someone else is paying for your trip and you want to drink and have fun in the evening after working hard all day—fine! If you want to break some rules and run wild, go to a nightclub and find yourself a hot Italian boy your age to flirt with."

The problem began w the drinking..Yes, attending the camp on the Fed's dime..means one knows the rules..When inklings of this first surfaced..many were of the opinion.."Oh..let the girlies drink.."First mistake..and it took off from there.

 

[rfisher]

I just hope all three skaters are OK. This sort of scandal can impact families as well as the skaters, especially when honor is so important in a culture. It's much more than a trip to the Olympics. This can impact the rest of their lives. And, I agree with @kwanette Once again alcohol has led to very poor decision making that can have far reaching consequences. This is very sad for all parties.