Korean coach Park Chung-gun has decided not to renew his contract with the General Department of Sports and Physical Training (GDSPT) of Vietnam, following more than a week of consideration.
Park declined an invitation to negotiate a new contract in Vietnam, originally scheduled for September 24. Instead, he sent an email to the GDSPT, announcing his decision to part ways with Vietnamese shooting due to personal reasons, after 10 years of involvement.
On September 12, the GDSPT sent an email offering a contract extension to Park. The proposed contract was divided into two phases: from October 1, 2024, to December 31, 2024, and from January 3, 2025, to December 31, 2025. Under the new contract, Park would no longer coach as many athletes and events as before, instead focusing on the pistol team, led by Trinh Thu Vinh – who finished in the top four in the women’s 10m air pistol at the 2024 Olympics – and Pham Quang Huy – who won gold in the men’s 10m air pistol at the 19th Asian Games. The targets set for Park included winning three gold medals at the 2025 SEA Games, one to two gold medals at the 2026 Asian Games, and one gold medal at the 2028 Olympics.
Under the new terms, Park was still expected to receive a salary of $6,000 and an additional $300 for meals per month. He was the second-highest-paid foreign sports expert in Vietnam, excluding football, following archery expert Park Chae-soon, who earned $8,000 monthly. The GDSPT would pay Park’s salary from the state budget.
Despite the offer, Park had reservations about the contract’s terms, particularly regarding the timeline and the goals set. In an interview with VnExpress on September 13, Park emphasized that achieving these goals would require significant material investment and time, not just relying on the coach. However, a week later, he decided against renewing the contract.
One of the reasons for Park’s decision was dissatisfaction with how the GDSPT, the Shooting Department, and the Vietnam Shooting Federation handled the negotiations. Park was reportedly disappointed that his contract expired on August 31, but by September 11, no one had contacted him to discuss a renewal.
The delay in extending Park’s contract led the GDSPT to submit a report to the leadership of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The High-Performance Sports Department 1, part of the GDSPT, explained that they had contacted Park on August 28 to invite him for talks but received no response.
Born in 1966, Park Chung-gun joined the Vietnam shooting team in 2015. He played a crucial role in helping the team secure Olympic berths for three consecutive games. The pinnacle of his achievements came at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where Hoang Xuan Vinh won gold in the men’s 10m air pistol and silver in the men’s 50m air pistol. At the 2022 Asian Games, Park also helped Pham Quang Huy win gold in the men’s 10m air pistol – Vietnam’s first-ever shooting gold at the Asian Games.
At the 2024 Olympics, Park successfully guided two Vietnamese shooters to qualify for the games. Trinh Thu Vinh finished fourth in the women’s 10m air pistol and seventh in the women’s 25m sport pistol event. Le Thi Mong Tuyen was eliminated in the qualifiers of the women’s 10m air rifle, finishing 40th out of 43 competitors.
According to statistics from the GDSPT, since 2018, Vietnam has employed between 25 and 30 foreign experts, with South Korean professionals accounting for about 23% of this total. However, the country still faces challenges in attracting top-tier specialists in various sports, such as fencing, weightlifting, wrestling, taekwondo, women’s football, and gymnastics, due to budgetary constraints and contract negotiation issues.
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