Park Yong-seong Resigns as Chairman of International Judo Federation

Park Yong-seong, chairman of the Doosan Group, quit his membership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and resigned as chairman of the International Judo Federation (IJF) to focus on his business, the IJF announced on Friday.

He became an IOC member in 2002 in the capacity of chairman of the IJF. By resigning as chairman of IJF, Park automatically lost his IOC membership.

Due to his resignation, South Korea’s sport diplomacy is likely to be compromised as Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee becomes the only Korean member in the IOC.

Park served as IKF chairman for three terms in a row after his election in 1995. He was also expected to remain in the position until 2009. The reason behind his abrupt resignation was reportedly dissatisfaction with Park’s long presidency among member nations of the European Judo Union (EJU) which consists of 50 member countries of the 197 IJF member nations.

Korean judo circles view that his resignation will not significantly affect the national judo team.

Ahn Byung-geun, director of the Korea’s male national team, said, “The chairman of the referee committee has a greater influence in the IJF; the presidency of Park didn’t bring much advantage for the Korean team.”

However, the Korean Sports Council could not hide its disappointment over the news.

“Park decided to step down from the position as he faced a series of setbacks. First, he did everything within his power to attract the 2014 Winter Olympic Games to Pyeongchang, and now he is challenged by the internal disputes of the IJF. He seemed concerned that his presidency may negatively affect the Korean team in the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games,” said Baek Seong-il, director of the international coordination department at the Korean Sports Council.

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