The Korea Sport Ethics Center (K-SEC), under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, is looking into the women's volleyball match between Korea and Japan, which sparked a controversy over 'biased officiating.'
The Korea Sport Ethics Center (K-SEC) launched an investigation on the 19th to determine whether there was biased officiating.
The problematic match was the fourth match of the 2025 Korea Invitational Jinju International Women's Volleyball Tournament, held on the 16th at the Jinju Gymnasium in South Gyeongsang Province.
The Korean women's volleyball team defeated Japan with a set score of 3-2 in the 150th Korea-Japan match, held the day after Liberation Day.
However, volleyball fans erupted in anger, claiming it was a 'shameful victory due to biased officiating,' and filed complaints with the Korea Sport Ethics Center (K-SEC) requesting the referee of the match be disciplined.
At that time, Korea tasted victory against Japan for the first time in nearly four years since the fourth match of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic qualifiers, winning in a full-set battle that went to five sets.
If not for the officiating controversy, this match could have been a significant boost for the Korean women's volleyball team, which lost confidence due to relegation in the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), but they couldn't fully celebrate as they were criticized for receiving unnecessarily favorable calls.
In particular, the declaration of Korea's serve, which appeared to fall outside the line, as 'in' at 11-10 in the fifth set was essentially a turning point that decided the match.
The match proceeded without video review, and the Korean referee repeatedly favored Korea in ambiguous situations.
'Victory in the Korea-Japan match' became overshadowed by the atmosphere of the era, where 'fairness' is placed as the top priority.
In response, a volleyball fan filed a complaint with the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) on the 18th, urging that the referee who officiated the match in a biased manner be disciplined and that measures be taken to prevent recurrence.
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) transferred the case to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which assigned the incident to the Korea Sport Ethics Center (K-SEC).
The Korea Sport Ethics Center (K-SEC) is an organization established in 2020 to ensure fairness in sports and protect the rights of athletes.
So far, the main focus of investigations has been on human rights violations of athletes and misconduct by organizations, but it is unusual for a case regarding the officiating of a specific match to be received.
The Korea Sport Ethics Center (K-SEC) can recommend disciplinary action against individuals involved in the relevant organization if issues are discovered through the investigation.