Confusion in South Korea. The president of the National Olympic Committee (KSOC), Lee Kee-heung (photo above), was authorized on Tuesday, November 12, to run for a third term at the head of the body by the ethics commission, while he had been suspended the day before by the Ministry of Sports. The political authorities not only blame him for his mismanagement of the KSOC, but they also suspect him of illicit hiring and embezzlement. Not nothing. At the request of the South Korean Ministry of Sports, a team of six inspectors spent a month delving into the accounts and documents of the body. They reportedly discovered in particular that Lee Kee-heung had a university friend of his daughter hired for a position at the Jincheon National Training Center, for which the candidate did not meet the requirements of the job description. Lee Kee-heung even requested the replacement of the head of the recruitment department who opposed this hiring. Investigators also found that the president of the National Olympic Committee approved a request from the president of a sports association to cover expenses related to dietary supplements and uniforms for athletes. In exchange, he was allegedly given a position in the management of the delegation to the Paris 2024 Games. Finally, the investigation revealed potential embezzlement, several violations of KSOC regulations, and fraudulent use of the body's credit card. The Sports Ministry did not need more to decide to suspend Lee Kee-heung. But the KSOC ethics commission subsequently allowed him to run for a third term, apparently in response to government interference in the committee's operations. Lee Kee-heung, 69, has been an IOC member since 2019 as president of the South Korean National Olympic Committee. The KSOC elections are scheduled for January 2025.
