International Olympic Comm- ittee (IOC) vice president Kim Un-yong voluntarily turned himself over to prosecutors for questioning in Seoul yesterday following corruption alleg-ations, officials said.
Kim, one of South Korea's most influential sports leaders, presented a written statement to the Seoul district prosecutors office before being turned away to be summoned at a later date, they said.
"He returned home because he has yet to be officially summoned," a prosecution source said.
"Prosecutors later issued a summons for Kim, who was asked to appear at the office by 10:00am on December 29," the source added.
The 72-year-old IOC official denied Monday that he was involved in corruption after pro-secutors arrested a former sports official accused of bribing him.
In a statement to the public, Kim said he was ready for investigation by prosecutors and denounced local media reports which described him as "a corrupt figure."
Last week, prosecutors arrested Lee Kwang-tae, a former Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) member who was in office from November 2000 to July last year, for alleged corruption.
Prosecutors refused to confirm Lee's charges, but Yonhap news agency said Lee is suspected of providing 100 million won (US$84,170) to Kim to help win his KOC membership.
The arrest came after investigators raided Kim's home and office and seized a safe and documents.
Kim, also head of the World Taekwondo Federation, was one of several IOC members implicated in a corruption investigation surrounding last year's Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
Kim's 40-year-old son, John Kim, was freed by a court in Bulgaria early this month after US authorities dropped their extradition demand on graft charges related to the Salt Lake City Olympics.
The son was arrested in Sofia six months ago on an Interpol warrant issued by the US Justice Department investigating allegations that he was helped by the creation of a phoney job to gain a green card that allowed him to work and live in the US.
The case unravelled earlier this month when a US court cleared Salt Lake City Olympic bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson of bribing IOC members by offering them free gifts, study grants and employment to family members.
Kim was also under fire at home for allegedly putting personal ambition ahead of South Korea's bid to host the 2010 Winter Olympics at the winter sports center of Pyeongchang.
Pyeongchang lost the right to stage the Olympics to Vancouver in a close race in July, sparking criticism that Kim lobbied against his own country to boost his chances of election as an IOC vice president.
Kim rejected the charges and filed damage suits against Pyeongchang bid committee officials and others.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was