Seoul, South Korea – The South Korean government has ordered an investigation into Lee Ki-heung, the president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), on charges of illegal hiring, embezzlement, and breach of trust.
The Joint Public Service Inspection Team under the Office of Government Policy Coordination announced on October 10th that it would refer eight KSOC officials, including Lee, to the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency on the 11th. This decision comes after a month-long investigation into the KSOC's alleged misconduct, which began on September 8th.
Lee is accused of arranging for the hiring of his daughter's university friend at the Jincheon National Training Center in 2022. The position required a background in sports and a level 2 professional sports instructor qualification, but Lee allegedly instructed high-ranking officials and relevant personnel to relax the qualifications. When a department head objected, they were replaced. Lee is also reported to have berated and insulted an employee who suggested that the salary for the position should be lowered if the qualifications were relaxed. Despite the competitive ratio of 32:1, Lee's daughter's friend was eventually hired.
Additionally, Lee is suspected of being involved in a scheme where the president of a sports federation prepaid for the team's meals and uniforms worth approximately 80 million won and was offered key positions related to the Paris Olympics. The president of the sports federation is known to have a long-standing friendship with Lee.
Lee is also accused of misusing KSOC assets for personal gain. It is alleged that he distributed 14 mobile phones worth 17 million won from among the 63 million won worth of Pyeongchang Olympic marketing revenue products allocated to his office to acquaintances. He is also suspected of taking items allocated to other departments of the KSOC for personal use.
Furthermore, it was confirmed that Lee included five of his personal acquaintances, who had no connection to the sports world, in the Paris Olympic observation team. The KSOC allegedly paid for the airfare of these five individuals, which amounted to over 3 million won per person.
Lee was summoned as a witness at the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on September 24th but submitted a written excuse stating that he had to attend a business agreement ceremony. However, the investigation revealed that the event ended in the morning of the same day. Lee was found to have been drinking with employees at a restaurant near the Jincheon Training Center until 10:20 PM that night.
The government also identified numerous other problems with the KSOC's operations, such as the sudden change in the location of the Paris Olympic delegation's disbandment ceremony, which resulted in a waste of 7 million won in budget. During a meeting related to the disbandment ceremony, Lee was caught threatening to take disciplinary action against an official if the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism attended.
The KSOC was also found to have neglected the management of sponsored goods received through donations or revenue-generating activities. The investigation also revealed cases where the KSOC arbitrarily expanded the reasons for direct contracting and improperly used business promotion expenses. During the inspection process, some KSOC officials obstructed and interfered with the investigation.
Seo Young-seok, the director-general of public service management, stated, "To more clearly reveal the illegal and improper handling of business by some KSOC officials confirmed through this inspection, we will refer the inspection results to the investigative authorities and notify the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism."
The government plans to refer 11 officials who violated regulations, although not illegally, to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for audit and disciplinary action.
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