I am an editorial writer at The Korea Times, focusing on foreign policy, North Korea and domestic politics. My key areas of interest include North Korea, foreign interference in elections, election integrity, cyberattacks and human rights. Prior to joining the Editorial Board, I served as both Politics Desk editor and Culture Desk editor. During my career, I have reported on the Presidential Office under the Lee Myung-bak administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Assembly.
Some IOC members say Korea too harsh on Kim Un-yong
Craig Reedie, then president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), attends the WADA Symposium in Ecublens, near Lausanne, Switzerland, in this March 2018 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Ex-president of World Anti-Doping Agency says Kim is victim of politically-motivated probe, an allegation former prosecutor denies
By Kang Hyun-kyung
to honor her late father, the vice president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Kim Un-yong, didn't turn out the way she had hoped.
On Thursday, she received an email from her lawyer in Seoul informing her that the Central Administrative Appeals Commission (CAAC) dismissed her request to review the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs' (MPVA) decision last year which denied her plea to inter her father's remains in the national cemetery.
In 2004, the late Kim was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to two years in prison. He was released on parole the next year.
His conviction, however, was later expunged after he was pardoned in 2008.
The Korean government's repeated rejections to honor the late IOC vice president raised the eyebrows of some IOC members who had known Kim for a long time and were aware of the prosecution's 2004 investigation, the results of which tainted Kim's reputation that he had built through his decades of services.
Craig Reedie, a British IOC member and former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is one of the high-profile IOC members having remained unconvinced about the Korean government's disapproval of recognizing the late sports administrator.
“The 2004 criminal decisions against Dr. Kim were regarded as harsh by many people in the international sports community and his subsequent pardon was welcomed by them. After so many years and in recognition of his outstanding services to sport and to his country, it will be welcomed if a decision can be taken to afford him the present modest honor which is requested,” he said.
Reedie made the remarks when asked if he thinks Kim deserves to be recognized for his contribution despite his ethical lapses.
The late IOC Vice President Kim Un-yong / Courtesy of Helen Kim
Kim (1931-2017) fell from grace after he became the target of an investigation on suspicions of embezzlement and taking bribes. The probe kicked off in December 2003, just months after the Korean government's unsuccessful bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics in the mountainous eastern county of PyeongChang.
In the IOC session held in Prague, the Czech Republic, on July 3, 2003 to decide on the host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics, PyeongChang finished first in the first round competition with 51 votes, followed by Vancouver (40), Canada, and Salzburg (16), Austria.
With no cities having garnered half of the votes (53), a run-off vote took place. The results devastated Korea: PyeongChang lost to Vancouver 51-53.
The failed bid, which was then depicted as the “Nightmare in Prague” in a media report, created an uproar back home. The general public's anger was directed at the members of the task force committee established to lobby IOC members to host the Winter Olympics.
A blame game erupted among the members. Citing rumors, some pointed to Kim as the person mainly responsible for the failed bid and claimed his bigotry and selfish behavior ruined Korea's Olympic bid. Kim himself was also running in the election for IOC vice president which took place a day after the voting on the Olympic host city and didn't withdraw his candidacy despite repeated calls from several government officials to resign and put the nation's Olympic bid first, according to media reports.
Then opposition party lawmaker Kim Yong-hak, whose electoral district was PyeongChang, officially confronted Kim and called on him to take responsibility for the failed Olympic bid. The lawmaker put pressure on the IOC member, claiming that Kim allegedly disrupted Korea's campaigning effort to benefit his own election, an allegation Kim denied.
In news articles, a couple of unnamed foreign IOC members were quoted as saying they heard Kim speak negatively about the PyeongChang bid.
Following a flurry of negative media reports that depicted Kim as the culprit behind Korea's failed bidding efforts, public opinion had gone from bad to worse. Months later, the prosecution embarked on the investigation of the corruption scandal involving Kim.
Reedie said he had not heard about such detailed allegations regarding Kim.
But, he said, allegations of Kim's role as a disruptor are not convincing. “For the 2010 Winter Olympic Games decision, I have always believed that the combined interest of European countries in favor of Vancouver was too strong in the vital round of voting,” he said.
The former president of WADA said he was aware of the media interest regarding Kim after the IOC session in Prague in 2003.
“I am not convinced that PyeongChang had any reason to believe that they would be awarded the 2010 Winter Olympic Games as with no less than four European cities in the planning stage for a 2012 Summer Games bid, there was a considerable support for Vancouver candidacy at that time,” he said. “A Vancouver win would almost certainly mean no Toronto bid for 2012.”
Reedie tried to defend Kim regarding the embezzlement charges. “I understand that the funds which were questioned involved international travel, hospitality for influential sports visitors to Korea and a small number of staff salaries. I find it very difficult to regard these payments as grounds for 'embezzlement.'”
International Olympic Committee (IOC) delegation leader John Coates, left, speaks with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike prior to the start of the Four-Party Representative Meeting in Tokyo, Japan, in this November 2019 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap
Earlier, IOC Vice President John Coates presented a similar allegation about the 2004 investigation in his letter sent to President Moon Jae-in in March 2018, five months after Kim's death.
Encouraging Moon to recognize Kim and inter him in the national cemetery, Coates, also president of the Australian Olympic Committee, wrote that he was expecting Kim would be interred at the national cemetery. “However, I have recently learned with sorrow that he has been denied burial there by the cemetery officials on grounds of some domestic controversy involving the PyeongChang bid in 2003,” he wrote.
In a separate letter he sent to the MPVA following its denial of the burial request, Coates alleged that the 2004 investigation was politically motivated.
“It seems to me that his great service, sacrifice and remarkable accomplishments over many years would be enough to overlook a wrongful conviction that was politically motivated and subsequently annulled,” he wrote.
Chae Dong-uk, former prosecutor-general (April 2013-September 2013) who was in charge of the 2004 investigation of Kim, then as a prosecutor, denied the allegations that the indictment of Kim on charges of embezzlement was politically motivated.
“I know nothing about any political interference or influence involved in the investigation. There was no such political pressure whatsoever in the probe,” he told The Korea Times through his spokesman.