[People人] Redesigning a Century of Korean Sports: Improving Violence and Human Rights Violations from the Root

Reelected Lee Ki-heung, President of the Korean Sports Council
Strengthening Athlete Education and Laying the Foundation for Respecting Sports Human Rights

Lee Ki-heung, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, is being interviewed on the 28th at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee in Songpa-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Lee Ki-heung (65), President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC), has faced two crises in the past two years. Both involved human rights violations and violence in the sports community. The first incident was the 2019 case of former short track national team coach Cho Jae-beom physically assaulting athlete Shim Suk-hee. It occurred at national sports facilities such as Taereung and Jincheon athlete villages, causing a huge uproar. The KSOC’s poor management and supervision were clearly exposed.

President Lee bowed his head before the public. He promised, "I will eradicate unfair acts committed by coaches against athletes." However, it was an empty promise. The following year, triathlete Choi Sook-hyun of Gyeongju City Hall, unable to endure harsh treatment from coaches and teammates, took an extreme step. President Lee bowed his head again, saying, "We will thoroughly investigate to ensure such incidents never happen again and change the organizational culture."

Not all responsibility can be placed on President Lee. Human rights violations and violence in sports have been passed down for a long time. The fundamental cause is performance. Most coaches are non-regular workers. They must achieve a certain level of results to avoid dismissal. Violence also occurs among athletes under the guise of so-called ‘disciplining.’ Sportspeople say these two incidents are just the tip of the iceberg for this reason.

President Lee is well aware of this. He is not a sportsman with athlete experience. In 1985, he was appointed as secretary to former New Democratic Party leader Lee Min-woo and assisted in political affairs. In 1989, he founded Woosung Industrial Development, a ready-mix concrete manufacturing company, and is a businessman by background. However, starting as vice president of the Modern Pentathlon Federation in 2000, he has long served as head of KSOC member organizations such as the Korea Canoe Federation and the Korea Swimming Federation. He was also the head of the national delegation at the 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games and the 2012 London Olympics.

The coach and senior athletes of the Gyeongju City Triathlon Team attended an emergency inquiry on June 6 at the National Assembly regarding the death of the late athlete Choi Sook-hyun, listening to remarks by Lee Ki-heung, President of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

While serving as president of the Korea Swimming Federation, President Lee once struggled with a similar issue. In 2013, water polo players were caught installing illegal cameras in the female athletes’ locker room. President Lee permanently expelled them but reinstated their athlete status after three months.

This misjudgment became ammunition for rival candidates in the 41st KSOC presidential election held on the 18th. Despite all criticism, President Lee was re-elected with the highest 915 votes (46.35%) out of a total of 1,974 votes. He achieved the feat of becoming the third KSOC president to be re-elected, following Kim Yong-woon (31st-33rd) and Kim Jung-haeng (38th-39th).

This success was not due to appropriately addressing human rights violations and violence issues. It was made possible by the support of sportspeople opposing the separation of the KSOC and the National Olympic Committee (NOC). They feared that government-led reforms would be nothing more than desk-bound administration disconnected from the field. When the autonomy of the KSOC was threatened amid various sports scandals, they united as one.

In his victory speech, President Lee pledged, "I will ensure respect for sports human rights, improve welfare and expand job opportunities for sportspeople, establish a virtuous cycle among professional sports, recreational sports, and school sports, and secure job stability for sports coaches." All of these are measures that could lead to resolving human rights violations and violence issues.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The foundation is already being laid. A sports education center for sportspeople is under construction in Jangheung, Jeollanam-do, and is scheduled for completion in 2023. There, all coaches will be required to receive basic training at least once every five years. This is to change the organizational culture. A direct department for prevention and inspection will be established to conduct monitoring, undercover surveillance, and tracking management.

However, evaluations generally agree that substantial improvement measures such as strict accountability and disciplinary actions remain insufficient. Proactive measures like ‘one strike out’ have been established. But only perpetrators are punished; there is no way to hold coaches responsible for management and supervision accountable.

In the United States, when similar incidents occur, punishment is not limited to perpetrators. For example, when the sexual assault scandal involving Larry Nassar, the US gymnastics team doctor, broke out, top officials such as Scott Blackmun, chairman of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), and Kerry Perry, president of USA Gymnastics, all resigned.

Gradual changes alone are insufficient to improve organizational culture. Cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, which has tackled structural problems in sports, is absolutely necessary. They must move away from their previously confrontational stance and work together. Fortunately, President Lee seems to recognize this need. He began his victory remarks as follows:

"I feel a heavy responsibility. I will put an end to conflicts and disputes and take the lead in building the foundation for the next 100 years of Korean sports together."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.