Union Apologizes for Skating Disunity

The Korea Skating Union publicly apologized yesterday for the factional coaching practices that caused a physical confrontation at a team welcoming ceremony on April 6.

The damage control measure by the skating union may be too little, too late, however. Public outcry is growing, and a civil group is now demanding changes in union leadership.

At a press conference held yesterday at Olympic Park in Seoul, skating union president Park Seong-in apologized for the “disappointment and confusion” the organization may have caused. “We will devise an effective system by the end of this year to prevent further discord within the national team caused by factional struggles.”

But the press conference also revealed that the union made no efforts to stop the factionalism despite being aware it was going on. This casts doubt in the public’s mind over whether the union has the capacity to solve the team’s deep-rooted factional problems.

“The athletes wanted to pick their own coaches for the Olympics, and our skating committee allowed it. When the media brought up the issue of factional coaching practices right before the Olympics, we chose to maintain status quo, thinking that the issue might create confusion during the Olympics,” said Park. Park admitted the difficulty his organization has been having in dealing with the factional issue, saying, “We tried to encourage negotiations between both sides by placing their members in important positions in our organizations, but it did not work out well.”

The civil group Sporting Citizens United is demanding the resignation of the union leadership and the firing of the national team coaches involved.

Sung-Kyu Kim kimsk@donga.com