WKBL Operations Director Suspended for Referee Assignment Blunder

Kim Young-man, director of basketball operations at the WKBL, received a one-month suspension after failing to assign referees to a basketball game and delaying its start, the women's basketball league announced on Wednesday. “We have imposed a suspension on Kim for violating league regulations governing referee assignments,” the WKBL said. Kim Young-man will remain suspended from his duties through Feb. 20, with referee instructor Kim Jin-soo replacing him in the meantime. The WKBL also reprimanded Park Sun-young, general manager of basketball operations, with a warning. The disciplinary action stems from a 2025-26 season game between the Cheongju KB Stars and Incheon Shinhan Bank S-Birds on Friday in Chungju, North Chungcheong, which tipped off at 7:30 p.m., a half-hour later than scheduled. Replacement referees went to the game after a short notice. As the head of game operations headquarters, Kim holds responsibility for assigning one crew chief and two referees to each game and notifying them of their assignments one day before tip-off. But he accidentally failed to inform them. This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom. BY PIH JU-YOUNG [[email protected]]