The election for the president of the Korea Sports Council is just nine days away. With the first debate between the candidates taking place, the candidates engaged in a war of nerves to block the current president of the Korea Sports Council, Lee Ki-heung.
The 42nd President of the Korea Sports Council Election Steering Committee held the first candidate policy debate at 2 p.m. on the 4th at Bitmaru Broadcasting Support Center in Ilsan-dong-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do.
Lee Ki-heung (70), the current chairman of the Korean Sports Council, Kim Yong-joo (64), the former secretary-general of the Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province Sports Council, Yoo Seung Min (43), the former member of the International Olympic Committee, Kang Tae-sun (76), the current chairman of the Seoul Sports Council, Oh Joo-young (40), the current president of the Korea Sepak Takraw Association, and Kang Shin-wook (70), the current Dankook University honorary professor, all attended the forum. Kim Mi-ryang, the director of the Korean Sports Association and a professor of social sports at Soonchunhyang University, presided the event.
Debate began at 2 p.m. and lasted for about 1 hour and 50 minutes until 3:50 p.m. Joint questionnaire for moderators (2 minutes), individual questionnaire for moderators (2 minutes), debate on candidate policy verification (1 minute and 30 seconds for announcement of pledge, 30 seconds for candidate, 1 minute for presenter), and final remarks (1 minute and 30 seconds).
During the discussion, Yoo Seung Min pledged seven things: joint growth by securing independence of local sports associations and sports organizations, introducing a sports connection system between athletes and leaders, building advanced sports infrastructure through school sports revitalization projects, specializing in sports for all, improving self-sustainability through global-oriented K-sports, specializing in referees, and creating a fair sports environment through environmental improvement.
Kang Shin-wook was the first candidate to ask questions about Yoo. The two had discussions about unification before the upcoming election. However, the two candidates engaged in a war of nerves from the first question. "I am sorry for asking you a question about your morality prior to the policy verification," Kang said. "This came out of the last election for the president of the table tennis association. Suspicions have circulated through social network services that Yoo Seung Min paid back with donations while serving as the president of the table tennis association and that he changed players for the national team. I would appreciate it if you could explain the matter clearly."
Then candidate Yoo said, "You must be very afraid that candidate Kang Shin-wook will lose to me. I also hope for luck if I have a strong opponent before I go to the competition. But when you ask about morality at the policy verification meeting, I have to tell you," he said. Yoo Hubo then held up a document envelope and said, "These are all data I prepared. There is something very difficult to explain in one minute. However, it is true that I attracted more than 10 billion won of sponsors while serving as the president of the Korea Table Tennis Association. Did I attract that sponsor alone?"
Candidate Yoo said, "With the aspirations of our table tennis players, all table tennis players have made efforts to attract and develop table tennis together. I didn't know you would make such groundless negatives. I'm fully ready to answer these groundless negatives. However, I can't tell you because of the time. I hope you don't undermine all the wishes and efforts of table tennis players. If there is anything to take responsibility for, I will take responsibility, but if there is no basis, I think candidate Kang should also take moral responsibility."
Candidate Kang then said in a subsequent pledge announcement, "I think candidate Yoo Seung Min misunderstood earlier. I didn't do a negative thing, but I gave you an opportunity to explain what was reported to the Sports Ethics Center under your real name on social media at the time, but I'm sad to think it's a negative offensive."
The unification is considered one of the biggest issues in the upcoming election. The incumbent chairman, who is seeking his third term in office, is under investigation by the prosecution for alleged irregularities in hiring employees, receiving money and valuables, and bidding for a facility management company in Jincheon National Training Center. 메이저놀이터 "The Korean Sports and Olympic Committee is facing challenges both internally and externally. I thought it was irresponsible to ignore this," Chairman Lee said at a press conference to run for the chairman of the sports committee on June 23. He conducted an audit by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and attended a parliamentary hearing. There were even investigations by the National Assembly and the National Assembly. "There were investigations by the National Assembly and the police. I thought that if I just step down here, I will admit everything," he said, explaining why he ran for the election.
In the midst of this, this election will be held under a 'designated voter' system that makes sure that those recommended by 228 city, county, and district sports associations nationwide are included in the electoral college. As a result, there is an analysis that the incumbent is more advantageous in winning the election. The election structure is flowing in a 'Lee Ki-heung vs. anti-Lee Ki-heung' structure.
There was a unification of candidates. Ahead of the deadline for registration of candidates, Park Chang-beom, former president of the Korea Wushu Association, declared a unification of candidates, saying he supports Kang Shin-wook. Ahn Sang-soo, former mayor of Incheon, did not run in the upcoming election, calling for a unification of candidates. A unification of candidates Park Chang-bum, Kang Shin-wook, Ahn Sang-soo and Yoo Seung Min held their first unification meeting on June 17. Five days later, candidates Park Chang-bum, Kang Shin-wook, Ahn Sang-soo and Kang Tae-sun met privately. However, they completed registration of candidates without much income.
If unification is not achieved, the so-called "anti-Lee Ki-heung" candidates are widely expected to lose their votes. In fact, even during the 2021 sports presidential election, when current chairman Lee Ki-heung was re-elected, unification fell through, and Chairman Lee won a second term with 46.4% of the vote. At that time, candidate Kang Shin-wook won 25.7% of the vote and candidate Lee Jong-gul won 21.4%. If the candidate had succeeded in unifying the candidate at the time, the result could have been different. According to the industry, candidates Yoo Seung Min, Kang Shin-wook and Kang Tae-sun are considered as strong candidates to face current chairman Lee Ki-heung in this election. In the end, whether they will unify or not is expected to be the biggest variable in this election.
Meanwhile, the 42nd election for the chairman of the Korea Sports Council will be held at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul on the 14th. The electors will consist of a total of 2,244 people. Earlier, the Korea Sports Council recommended professional outside figures from related organizations such as legal, sports, media and the election field for the 42nd election for the chairman of the Korea Sports Council, and the election management committee on December 3 last year after consultation with the relevant ministries (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) and a resolution by the board of directors