▲ Ra Gun-ah
Busan KCC of the Korean Basketball League (KBL) has demanded an explanation from the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus, accusing the club of making false claims regarding a tax dispute involving player Ra Gun-ah.
In an official statement released today (June 10), the KCC club asserted, "The Daegu KOGAS Pegasus severely damaged our club's reputation while filing for an injunction to suspend the KBL's disciplinary action regarding Ra Gun-ah's taxes."
KCC stated that KOGAS claimed through certain media outlets that "KCC exerted influence on the KBL Board of Directors to unfairly shift the burden of comprehensive income tax, which KCC should have paid, onto others."
"This is an absurd 'conspiracy theory' and clearly constitutes defamation by stating false facts," KCC added. "We will consider taking legal action if there is no appropriate explanation."
Ra Gun-ah, who played for KOGAS during the 2025-2026 season, sparked controversy over a comprehensive income tax issue (398 million won) that arose in 2024 while he was with Busan KCC.
During a board meeting in May 2024, the KBL decided to terminate Ra's contract as a naturalized player and transition him to a standard foreign player contract, ruling that the income tax for that year would be borne by the "final club that signs the player."
Consequently, KOGAS, which signed Ra for the 2025-2026 season, was expected to pay the tax. However, after joining KOGAS, Ra paid the tax himself and filed a lawsuit against KCC—the party to his previous contract—claiming that KCC should be responsible for the payment.
After KOGAS failed to pay the tax, the KBL decided to strip the club of its first-round pick in the upcoming domestic rookie draft.
(Photo: Provided by KBL, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.