Section 7: Violations & Penalties
7.1 Gam-jeom: a Single Penalty Class
Penalties are declared by the referee (Article 14.1), and every prohibited act described in Article 14 is penalised with a “Gam-jeom” (Article 14.2). There is no separate warning tier: the Kyong-go warning, and the arithmetic by which two warnings converted into one penalty point, belong to a superseded edition of the rules and appear nowhere in the rules in force as of June 1, 2026.
A Gam-jeom is counted as one point for the opposing contestant (Article 14.3). The one exception is passive behaviour in the last ten seconds of a round, for which two points are awarded to the opponent (Article 14.3.1, applying Article 12.3.5.1).
7.2 Prohibited Acts
The following are classified as prohibited acts, each declared with a Gam-jeom (Article 14.4.1):
- Crossing the Boundary Line (Article 14.4.1.1)
- Falling down (Article 14.4.1.2)
- Avoiding or delaying the match (Article 14.4.1.3)
- Grabbing or pushing the opponent (Article 14.4.1.4)
- Lifting the leg to block; kicking the opponent's leg to impede a kicking attack; aiming a kick below the waist; lifting the leg above the waist to kick in the air four or more times; or lifting a leg or kicking in the air for more than three seconds to impede the opponent (Article 14.4.1.5)
- Kicking below the waist (Article 14.4.1.6)
- Attacking the opponent after Kal-yeo (Article 14.4.1.7)
- Hitting the opponent's head with the hand (Article 14.4.1.8)
- Butting or attacking with the knee (Article 14.4.1.9)
- Attacking the fallen opponent (Article 14.4.1.10)
- Attacking the trunk PSS with the side or bottom of the foot in a clinch position (Article 14.4.1.11)
A Gam-jeom is recorded to the previous round if the action occurred within five seconds of that round's conclusion; misconduct by a contestant or coach during a rest period past those five seconds is declared immediately (Article 14.4).
7.3 Accumulation and Punitive Declaration
When a contestant receives ten Gam-jeom, the referee declares that contestant the loser by referee's punitive declaration (PUN) (Article 14.7) — the rules classify this outcome as PUN rather than as a disqualification (Article 16). Under the best-of-three system, a contestant who receives five Gam-jeom in a round loses that round to the opponent (Article 14.7.1). Since each Gam-jeom awards a point to the opponent, an opponent will have accrued at least ten penalty points by the time a punitive declaration is reached.
7.4 Instant Disqualification
Certain severe offenses result in immediate disqualification without progressive penalties:
- Intentional violent attack after the kal-yeo or keu-man command
- Extreme unsportsmanlike conduct (verbal abuse, spitting, threatening officials)
- Deliberate manipulation or tampering with PSS electronic equipment
- Third-party interference (unauthorized person entering the competition area)
- Failure to comply with the referee's instructions after repeated warnings
7.5 Instant Video Replay (IVR)
The Instant Video Replay (IVR) system allows coaches to challenge referee decisions or request review of scoring. The coach raises the designated signal card during a break in action to request an IVR review. The review jury examines multi-angle video footage and may overturn or confirm the original decision. If the challenge is successful, the coach retains the right to make additional challenges. If the challenge is unsuccessful, no further challenges are permitted for that match. IVR may be used to contest: point awards, penalty calls, boundary decisions, or situations where a technique was scored but should not have been (or vice versa).