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Seoul court clears path for national Olympic committee election

Published: 13 Jan. 2025, 16:36

Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung speaks during a press conference at Seoul Olympic Parktel in southern Seoul on Dec. 23, 2024. [YONHAP]

A Seoul court on Monday dismissed an injunction filed to halt the election for the head of the national Olympic committee, allowing the voting to proceed as scheduled this week.

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The Seoul Eastern District Court rejected the injunction filed by two separate applicants last Wednesday to put the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) president election on hold. A group of 11 voters, led by Korea Ice Hockey Association President Lee Ho-jin, first applied for the injunction, followed hours later by Dankook University professor emeritus Kang Shin-wook, one of six candidates in the race.

In the election scheduled for Tuesday, Kang is up against, among others, incumbent chief Lee Kee-heung, who is pursuing his third term, and Ryu Seung-min, the 2004 Olympic men's table tennis champion and a former member of the International Olympic Committee.

In their filing last week, Lee and his 10 fellow voters complained that voters' rights were violated due to procedural problems.

They said the 150 minutes allotted for voting at Olympic Park in southern Seoul were not nearly long enough. They also claimed voters living outside the capital city may have difficulty arriving at the polling station on time, adding that putting such voters at a disadvantage was inherently unfair.

Kang, too, raised issues with the voting hours and the location of the election. Kang also pointed out that the KSOC did not contact athletes, coaches and referees among prospective voters for their consent to the use of personal information for the selection of the 2,244-person electoral college.

According to Kang, the KSOC gathered information from its database that had not been updated, and this led to the inclusion of some people who no longer work in sports, athletes who are currently serving in the military and even people who have died.

Yonhap