By Kim Hyun-cheol
Staff Reporter
A special committee convened to investigate a race-rigging case in short track skating tournaments recommended imposing hefty penalties on those involved in the scandal, Friday, including the permanent expulsion of a former national team coach from the Korea Skating Union (KSU).
After a nine-day probe, the committee, comprising of officials from three organizations including the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Olympic Committee, also said that two Olympic medalists, Lee Jung-su and Kwak Yoon-gy, should each be suspended for a year.
``We will urge the KSU to disqualify coach Jeon Jae-mok for good,'' the committee said in a statement.
It added that other KSU officials including Kim Ki-hoon, a former national team head coach, should receive a three-year suspension from the union.
Collective resignations from within the leadership of the sport's governing body now appears inevitable to take responsibility for the uproar and confusion the case brought.
In the wake-up to the announcement, the KSU will call on a disciplinary committee to finalize the penalties on those involved in the scandal.
Lee, a double gold medalist at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, was regarded as a victim of habitual race-fixing practices to divide up spots for major home and overseas events such as the national team qualifying tournaments.
Earlier this year, he claimed Jeon forced him to pull out of this year's World Championships. Lee submitted a signed document prior to the competition that he would drop out due to an ankle injury, which turned out to be coerced later on.
The probe, however, led to the conclusion that Lee as well might have connived with Kwak to receive help in the national team qualifying competitions, after members reviewed recorded footage of his race in the tournament.
The committee said it was important to keep national qualifiers from getting overly competitive.
``Overall, the investigation of the case made us realize that so many athletes, as well as their parents and coaches, have turned numb to morality,'' the committee said. ``Now the KSU will work on implementing new ways to prevent irregularities from taking place.''