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Park Chan-kyong

A prominent figure in South Korea’s speedskating community is in a tight spot for allegedly attempting to prevent other victims from coming forward after Olympic athlete Shim Suk-hee accused her former coach of physical abuse last year.
Jun Myeong-kyu, who resigned as vice-president of the Korea Skating Union last year over corruption allegations, allegedly tried to stop other victims from joining Shim in lodging complaints against her former coach Cho Jae-beom.
Cho is also one of Jun’s close associates.
Shim, a 21-year-old double Olympic gold medallist, this month accused Cho of sexual abuse since she was 17. Cho had already been found guilty in September of physically assaulting Shim and three other skaters, and was jailed for 10 months.
Rape, violence and a culture of fear: the dark side of South Korea’s Olympic success
Audio tapes of a dialogue between Jun and one of his underlings, made public late Wednesday on SBS TV, have sparked angry reactions – including calling for Jun’s arrest – on the presidential Blue House internet homepage and news portals.
There was no immediate reaction from Jun, but he had earlier denied the allegations.
In the audio tapes, Jun told one of his associates to dissuade the other victims from backing Shim in her legal action against Cho.
“You find close friends [of the other victims] and put them under strong pressure. Someone should tell [Shim and other victims] to knock it off … Tell them, how could they continue with their careers after all this?” Jun was heard telling the associate.

Of the four athletes beaten by Cho, three consequently withdrew their testimony against him, but Cho was convicted and sentenced to 10 months’ jail.
Jun had earlier also forced other athletes to write a petition to the court, calling for leniency for Cho over the assault case.
Billed as the “patriarch” of the country’s skating community, Jun coached a national short-track speedskating team from 1987-2002 and served as a Korea Skating Union executive from 2009 till 2018, wielding a huge influence over the ice sport.
According to Representatives of Solidarity for Young Skaters, an advocacy group set up by Yeo Jun-hyung, another former national speedskating coach, “Shim’s case is merely the tip of the iceberg”.
The group has identified six other cases of suspected sexual abuse, including of a minor, since it began collecting reports from victims two months ago.

A culture of fear prevents these victims from going public, however. “They fear this would end their career in the sport,” said Yeo.
Speedskating has a huge and devoted following in South Korea, which has won more gold medals in the sport than any other country. But its success has come at a price.
Ruling Democratic Party lawmaker Sohn Hye-won, who has been investigating corruption and abuse allegations involving skating authorities over the past two years, accused Jun of turning the country’s skating society into “a den of criminals”.
She accused Jun of appointing “disreputable” figures like Cho as coaches and having skating officials “under his thumb”.
“He blinded us, using the glint from Olympic golds, while covering up human rights abuses”, Sohn said.
Following Shim’s allegations that she was raped multiple times by Cho, the Korea Skating Union issued a public apology, promising a thorough probe into physical and sexual assaults against athletes and other wrongs and vowing to report all offenders to judicial authorities.


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South Korea

South Korea’s speedskating patriarch ‘tried to stop sex abuse complaints’

epa07285538 Rally to call for sports body chief's resignation Members of sports civic groups rally in front of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) building in Seoul, South Korea, 15 January 2019, to demand KSOC chief Lee Ki-heung step down over scandals involving physical and sexual violence in the sports community. Olympic short track champion Shim Suk-hee and former judoka Shin Yu-yong came forward in recent weeks to reveal that they had been sexually abused by their coaches for years. EPA-EFE/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

This photo taken on December 17, 2018 shows South Korean Olympic short track champion Shim Suk-hee outside the Suwon District Court in Suwon, south of Seoul. - Double Olympic gold medallist Shim Suk-hee broke down in tears as she told a South Korean court of the years of abuse she suffered at the hands of her coach. (Photo by YONHAP / YONHAP / AFP) / - South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT - NO ARCHIVES - RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE

Speedskaters in action during a training session at the Gangneung Oval speedskating venue in Gangneung, South Korea, in February 2018. Photo: EPA

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Jun Myeong-kyu was heard in audio tapes telling aide to dissuade other athletes from filing complaints against disgraced coach
Olympian Shim Suk-hee had earlier accused ex-coach Cho Jae-beom of abuse


Jun Myeong-kyu was heard in audio tapes telling aide to dissuade other athletes from filing complaints against a disgraced coach


Crime

Pyeongchang Winter Olympics 2018

Sexual harassment and assault

South Korea’s speedskating patriarch ‘tried to stop sex abuse complaints’

Jun Myeong-kyu was heard in audio tapes telling aide to dissuade other athletes from filing complaints against disgraced coach Olympian Shim Suk-hee had earlier accused ex-coach Cho Jae-beom of abuse

Jun Myeong-kyu was heard in audio tapes telling aide to dissuade other athletes from filing complaints against disgraced coach

Olympian Shim Suk-hee had earlier accused ex-coach Cho Jae-beom of abuse