The LCK has announced that it will not impose any sanctions regarding the controversy surrounding ‘Ruler’ Park Jae-hyuk.
According to an appeal document released on the National Tax Legal Information System on March 26, the National Tax Service determined that Park ‘Ruler’ Jae-hyuk had evaded taxes through the use of borrowed-name accounts. Park’s side filed an appeal with the Tax Tribunal, but it was dismissed. Furthermore, public sentiment toward him deteriorated rapidly after he continued to stream solo-queue games amid the controversy.
‘Ruler’ subsequently posted an apology on his personal social media and continued to compete in matches despite intense public scrutiny. About two weeks later, he addressed the media again to express his apologies and has since continued his official activities.
In early April, the LCK secretariat stated, “We are aware of the recent issues concerning Gen.G player ‘Ruler’ Park Jae-hyuk and are conducting an internal review and investigation. We plan to form an investigative committee, including external experts, to verify the facts more thoroughly.” About a month has passed since that announcement.
Today, the results regarding potential disciplinary action were released.
The LCK stated, “The investigative committee has thoroughly verified the facts of the entire matter through a process that included multiple deliberations, a review of relevant materials, and in-person interviews with the player. Furthermore, we carefully reviewed whether LCK regulations were violated by comprehensively considering the facts and related factors identified during the investigation.
Based on the committee’s findings, the LCK secretariat has made the final decision not to impose any separate sanctions. This decision was reached with the unanimous agreement of all members of the investigative committee, based on the aforementioned fact-finding and legal review.
Regarding whether the actions constituted criminal activity (LCK Rulebook 9.2.8), the LCK stated, “Given the structure and intent of the regulation, it is applied based on the premise of serious illegal acts involving or equivalent to criminal liability, and we determined that this case does not fall under that category.
Our review of whether the matter constitutes criminal activity found no evidence of tax evasion or other violations of the Punishment of Tax Evaders Act, nor were there any initiated investigations, criminal charges, or criminal convictions. Therefore, we determined that imposing sanctions based on this clause is not permissible under LCK regulations.
The LCK also addressed whether the actions constituted immoral behavior or conduct detrimental to the league (LCK Rulebook 9.2.9 and Penalty Index).
The LCK stated, “Considering the facts and the nature of the actions identified during the investigation, we determined that it is difficult to extend the definition of ‘immoral behavior’ or ‘conduct detrimental to the league’ under LCK regulations to this case.
Furthermore, we confirmed that this matter underwent a series of ‘tax-related procedures’ resulting in administrative action by tax authorities, and that the player has fulfilled his payment obligations, effectively concluding the relevant administrative process. It was confirmed that the player proceeded with some of these ‘tax-related procedures’ under the guidance of a professional tax agent, and the mere fact that these procedures were undertaken does not automatically imply illegality or justify the application of sanctions.
The term “tax-related procedures’ here refers to processes where tax authorities determine or modify tax amounts according to relevant laws (reassessment), requests for correction by taxpayers, and appeals against such decisions (including administrative litigation such as objections and tax tribunal appeals).
In addition, according to the facts and timeline verified by the investigative committee, it was confirmed that the statute of limitations for any applicable penalties under LCK regulations for the actions in question has clearly expired.
Finally, the LCK secretariat stated, “We are acutely aware of the importance of the social responsibilities required of professional players. However, separate from such evaluations, league-level sanctions must be applied cautiously based on clear regulations and objectively verified facts. In this case, considering that the administrative tax procedures and the fulfillment of resulting obligations have been completed, that no separate serious illegal acts (such as tax evasion through evidence tampering) have been identified at this time, and that no criminal liability has been established, we determined that imposing sanctions at this time would not be appropriate under the principles of LCK regulation, and thus decided not to impose any separate sanctions.”
Regarding future standards, the LCK stated, “For similar cases in the future, we plan to conduct reviews based on consistent standards, comprehensively considering whether relevant laws were violated, whether criminal liability is involved, the severity of the actions, and the impact on the league.
However, matters involving routine administrative tax procedures, such as tax reassessments or the payment of additional taxes, are by their nature difficult to categorize as subjects for LCK regulation or league-level sanctions. That said, we will take strict action according to relevant regulations in cases where clear violations of the law involve criminal liability or equivalent serious illegality.
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