Sports minister says audits into football, badminton federations set to conclude in Sept.

Ongoing government audits into the national governing bodies for football and badminton over recent controversy will conclude sometime in September, the sports minister said Monday.

Yu In-chon, minister of culture, sports and tourism, made the remark during a plenary meeting of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly.

When asked about the ministry’s audit into operations of the Korea Football Association (KFA), brought on by its controversial hiring of Hong Myung-bo as new head coach of the men’s national team, Yu said, “I understand the audit will wrap up before the end of September.”

The ministry decided to look into how the KFA ended up bringing Hong aboard in July after spending preceding months reviewing candidacies of foreign-born coaches. Neither the KFA nor Hong offered clear explanations on the circumstances surrounding Hong’s appointment.

“In addition to the coaching hiring issue, we are looking at overall problems at the KFA,” Yu said.

When asked if Hong’s hiring will be voided if any major legal problems are detected, Yu said: “That matter is a bit more political. Since there are matches coming up in September (in the World Cup qualifying campaign), we’ll have to hear more from KFA officials.”

Yu noted that the KFA took out a line of credit worth some 60 billion won (US$45.3 million) to fund the construction of a new national football center without authorization from his ministry.

“That they didn’t get our approval is violation in and of itself,” the minister said. “We will demand disciplinary action against relevant officials and will explore other steps.”

Yu wasn’t convinced that the beleaguered KFA chief, Chung Mong-gyu, will seek a fourth term.

“Basically, he is not allowed to go for a fourth term, unless he has the green light from the Fair Play Commission at the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee,” the minister said. “If the commission is fair at all, then Chung won’t be able to run again.”

The ministry is also looking into claims raised by the Olympic badminton champion An Se-young on some archaic operations and inefficient practices by the Badminton Korea Association (BKA). Yu said the probe is “going well” and he also expects it to finish before the end of September.

“We’re looking into everything, from relationships between athletes and coaches to budget execution by the BKA,” Yu said.

During the sessions, lawmakers said sports federations, on top of those for football and badminton, have been stuck in old ways even as athletes have evolved over time.

In response, Yu said: “You have to put sports and athletes first, but there are still some outdated practices in place. I think sports have become political.”

KSOC President Lee Kee-heung sidestepped a question about specific examples of old practices, saying: “We have to move away from those. I think protecting athletes has been one of the biggest problems.”

“We will be talking with leaders of these federations and coaches working with athletes, and try to determine why these issues keep popping up,” Lee added.