Kim Taek-gyu, head of the Badminton Korea Association, attends a breifing session held by National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee in Seoul, Sep. 24. Korea Times photo by Ha Sang-yun

The sports ministry announced Monday it will request the dismissal of the top badminton official for the second time, with the sport's national federation not having taken action despite the ministry's earlier demands.

The ministry said in a statement that the Badminton Korea Association (BKA), led by Kim Taek-gyu, had carried out changes in 16 of the 25 areas as demanded by the ministry on Oct. 31. The BKA is still in the process of implementing changes in six areas, while its appeal for reconsideration in three others was dismissed by the ministry last Thursday.

The ministry made those demands two months ago at the conclusion of its monthslong probe into operations at the BKA, conducted after An Se-young openly criticized the national federation in the aftermath of her women's singles gold medal victory at the Paris Olympics.

Among the changes undertaken by the BKA, players are no longer prevented from accepting invitations to play in overseas matches if their expenses are covered by their clubs.

The BKA also lifted eligibility restrictions based on age and prior experience for non-national team players in international competitions. Previously, only male players 28 or older and female players 27 or older with at least five years of national team experience were allowed to play in international matches without being on the national team at the moment.

Under recent changes, players are now allowed to don uniforms bearing logos of their own corporate sponsors other than the ones supporting the BKA.

According to the ministry, the BKA was still mapping out plans to distribute sponsorship money to players who competed on the national team in 2020 and to allow players to use equipment manufactured by companies other than BKA sponsors.

Back on Oct. 31, the ministry demanded Kim's dismissal over embezzlement and breach of trust charges. The BKA rejected the ministry's findings that Kim had improperly distributed sponsored goods without following official procedures last year and that the association had not gone through proper bidding processes when securing sponsorship contracts over the past two years.

However, the ministry said Monday that it dismissed the BKA's appeals last week. With that, the ministry plans to levy a fine on the badminton body and ask it to return illegally gained subsidies, beginning in early January.

The ministry will also ask the BKA to fire Kim within a month. Kim intends to run for BKA president election in January.

"If the BKA does not take corresponding steps to hold people accountable within the time line, then we will take drastic measures as announced at the end of October," the ministry said in its statement. "While the BKA has made significant progress to better protect rights and interests of players, we will continue to track its effort to implement changes in other areas." (Yonhap)