Former Nongshim RedForce Academy head coach,
Kim "Sound" Jun-sung, is now facing a significant setback in his coaching career. The coach has been handed a three-month ban from coaching duties in the LCK and LCK Challengers League following serious accusations of verbal abuse directed at his players. In addition to the ban covering local Korean leagues,
Sound also faces an exclusion from any and all official LoLEsports leagues across the world. The announcement of this disciplinary action was made on the Korean
LoLEsports website.While this decision may seem harsh,
Sound's punishment remains light compared to the
now lifted indefinite suspension applied to cvMax in 2019 for alleged abusive behavior.
As
announced in August of this year, a similar story took place within the LJL under the management of DetonatioN FocusMe. This story would eventually lead to Haruki "tol2" Shibata, the Japanese team's top laner, leaving the team mid-way through their split. Despite it not being tied to an official decision from Riot, DFM also elected to remove the team's coaches following the allegations involving their mistreatment of players. Eventually, Riot's Japanese branch would announce an official sanction of the organization, giving its higher-ups a fine and a mandatory "harassment education training" but surprisingly not suspending the coaches who instigated the harassment.
Nongshim Esports Academy on the LCKCL stage
The incident
The incident came to the attention of the LCK on September 19th, 2023, when the LCK secretariat received reports detailing instances of verbal abuse targeting LCK Challengers players under Nongshim by Sound. Following internal discussions within the LCK, an investigation was promptly initiated to authenticate the reports and examine the circumstances surrounding the verbal abuse. The investigation's focus was to determine whether Sound had breached any established LCK regulation rules as well as the full story/context.
Upon conclusion, the investigation confirmed that Sound had indeed made inappropriate comments. In recognition of his misconduct, Sound issued a formal apology to both the team and affected players. Sound asserted that his comments were intended to enhance player performance and alter the team atmosphere. However, the league committee determined that these comments were inappropriate towards his players. Consequently, in response to the investigation's findings, LCK has imposed a three-month suspension, barring Sound from participating in both the LCK and LCK Challengers league.
This ruling was executed in accordance with the LCK Penalty Index, and Sound has the option to request a reassessment within 14 days. If he chooses not to do so, the punishment will stand as originally announced.
As of the time of writing this article, there remains uncertainty regarding the commencement of the three-month ban—whether it is effective immediately or slated to begin after the off-season is currently unknown to us.
