Calls for criminal investigation into sexual abuse ‘cover-up’ claims against former South Korean speedskating official
- Jun Myeong-kyu, who resigned as vice-president of the Korea Skating Union last year, is accused of trying to sweep abuse allegations under the rug
An advocacy group has called for a criminal investigation into one of the most prominent figures in South Korean speedskating, following allegations that he covered up a series of sexual assaults.
Jun Myeong-kyu, who resigned as vice-president of the Korea Skating Union last year over corruption allegations, now stands accused of trying to stop victims like Olympic athlete Shim Suk-hee from speaking out.
Representatives of Solidarity for Young Skaters, the advocacy group, held a press conference on Monday demanding the investigation and also calling for Lee Ki-heung, the head of the Korea Sports and Olympic Committee, to step down.
Lee and the committee he heads are accused of failing to prevent sexual assaults on athletes despite earlier promises to do so. They have “lost the trust” of South Korea and its sporting community, the advocacy group said in a statement.
South Korean speedskating has been rocked by a sexual abuse scandal since double Olympic gold medallist Shim Suk-hee went public with her allegations against former coach Cho Jae-beom earlier this month.
The 21-year-old short-track star said Cho, who is already serving 10 months in jail for physical abuse against Shim and three other skaters, raped her multiple times beginning when she was 17.
Cho is a close associate of Jun, who was seemingly caught on tape instructing his underlings to cover up the abuse allegations in a leaked audio recording made public by SBS TV on Wednesday.
South Korea’s speedskating patriarch ‘tried to stop sex abuse complaints’
At Monday’s press conference, Representatives of Solidarity for Young Skaters said they had been in contact with five other skaters who were sexually assaulted by coaches but did not want to be identified.
Instead, lawmaker Sohn Hye-won – a supporter of the group who helped organise the press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul – released text messages she said were exchanged between one of the five and Jun.
In them, the female victim tells Jun of her many sleepless nights and how she has frequently contemplated suicide. To which the older man reportedly replied: “I just want you to get over it fast. That is the most important thing”.
Sohn went on to echo the advocacy group’s calls for a criminal investigation into Jun “to eradicate the accumulated wrongs in the country’s ice skating world”.
Jun said on Monday that he was unaware of any sexual assaults and denied the allegations.
A spokesman for the Korea Sports and Olympic Committee said it would conduct a thorough investigation.
“We’re not ruling out the possibility of cutting subsidies (worth some US$3 million a year) to the Korea Skating Union or dissolving it outright if it fails to put its house in order,” he said.