KSOC seeks to cut sports ministry's influence
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By Kang Hyun-kyung
Lee Kee-heung, president of the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee (KSOC), has initiated a drive to cut the influence of a “controlling geek” — the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism — on his organization, ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
Lee met members of KSOC Committee for the Future at the Olympic Hall in southern Seoul on Nov. 28 to discuss ways to strengthen its independence as a National Olympic Committee (NOC) from external influence. Lee and the committee members are to finalize the measures by February before a meeting with officials from the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland.
As the clock is ticking for the 2018 Winter Olympics, the independence of KSOC as a national Olympic authority has emerged as a key task to be resolved soon.
The sports ministry has wielded its influence on the KSOC, albeit indirectly, through its purse strings. This sometimes led to a clash with IOC regulations.
Former Sports Minister Kim Jong-deuk’s attempt to switch the host city of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Olympics is one of the exemplary cases showing the heavy-handedness of the ministry.
In September 2014, about a month after he took office, Kim put forth the eastern coastal city of Gangneung to replace PyeongChang as a candidate city to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.
Kim said it would be more economically beneficial if the venue for the ceremonies was changed to the larger city. According to him, the reuse of the forthcoming Olympic stadium to be built in the small rural district of Hoenggye-ri, PyeongChang, will emerge as a policy headache once the Olympics are over. The world-class Olympic stadium in the rural town would end up becoming a fancy facility that will be of no use after the Games, he said.
The Gangwon Provincial Government has sought to build a large-scale stadium of 40,000 seats stretching over a 326,700 square-meter area in the district for the Olympic ceremonies.
Kim pushed for the change of venue as his signature project, which ultimately failed in the face of a backlash from residents as well as the local government.
Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon opposed the idea because there were no previous host cities that had the opening and closing ceremonies outside their territory.
Kim’s proposal, if realized, would also have constituted a violation of the Olympic Charter which requires the host government to faithfully follow the IOC protocol guidelines regarding the ceremonies. Under the IOC rules, the host government must get prior approval from the IOC if it seeks to add or change certain programs associated with the opening and closing ceremonies.
Kim and former Vice Sports Minister Kim Chong are described as the two symbolic figures of political pressure on the KSOC. During a National Assembly hearing on the Choi Soon-sil scandal, Monday, Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho admitted that the sports ministry wielded influence on the Olympic organizing committee. Cho, the former president of the PyeongChang Olympic organizing committee, said last year he “was notified” by the sports minister that he was fired. He went on to say that at that time he didn’t ask why, but later was able to fathom the reason. After reading media reports, he said that his refusal of the request from President Park Geun-hye’s longtime friend Choi to donate money to her initiative to establish the K-Sports Foundation caused him to be ousted.
Kim Sang-kyum, a professor at Dongguk University Department of Law, said that KSOC’s financial reliance on the sports ministry is a challenge to its independence from political pressure. The sports ministry provides annual funding for the committee and therefore is in a position to monitor its activities to check if the financial resources from the government are used properly, he said. “As long as KSOC’s financial dependency continues, it’ll be difficult for them to operate independently from the government,” he said.
Kim, one of the members of the KSOC Committee for the Future, said there are several KSOC rules that go against IOC guidelines. He said the selection of its board members is one of the issues, among others, to be reformed in accordance with the IOC rules. “Under the IOC rules, NOC board members must be elected at a general assembly,” he said. “Currently, however, board members are chosen at a meeting of the board.”
Earlier, KSOC President Lee vowed to cut the organization’s financial dependence on the government. He also pledged to take a set of measures to set his organization free of external influence to better prepare for the PyeongChang Olympics.
The independence of Korea’s NOC has surfaced as a key police issue in sports since 2009 when its functions were integrated into the KSOC. Last year, opposition lawmaker Ahn Min-seok submitted an amendment bill to revise the current law on KSOC to separate the NOC function from it. But this was scrapped because of opposition from KSOC.
“It’s no wonder that KSOC opposes the separation of the NOC function from the organization,” said a legislative aide Kim Sang-jo. He said the immense perks the KSOC head enjoys is one of the key reasons. “As concurrent NOC head, for example, he or she is treated like a head of state abroad. Who’s going to give that up?”