Key IOC Official May Be Banned

The International Olympic Committee’s ruling executive board recommended the expulsion Thursday of South Korea’s Kim Un Yong, long one of the most influential figures in international sports, in the wake of Kim’s conviction last year in Seoul on corruption charges.

Saying that Kim, an IOC vice president, had “seriously tarnished” the “reputation of the Olympic movement,” the board voted unanimously to recommend expulsion to the full IOC general assembly, which meets in July in Singapore. Expulsion requires a two-thirds vote. There are about 120 IOC members.

Under IOC President Jacques Rogge, elected in 2001, the executive board has shown little tolerance for conduct that raises ethics concerns, apparently eager to put behind memories of the Salt Lake City corruption scandal of 1999, in which 10 IOC members resigned or were expelled.

Also on the Singapore agenda is the proposed expulsion of another member, Bulgarian Ivan Slavkov, who was implicated last year in an undercover BBC program that explored allegations of corruption in the bidding process for the Olympic Games.

Kim, 73, has been among the leading sports figures in Asia and a two-thirds vote in the assembly in his case is no certainty. He has consistently maintained his innocence.

Former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, speaking last week in Madrid, told reporters that Kim’s conditions in a Korean prison would be “brutal.”

An IOC member since 1986, Kim played a key role in organizing the Seoul 1988 Summer Games and helped get taekwondo accepted as an Olympic sport.

In connection with the IOC’s investigation into the scandal surrounding Salt Lake’s winning bid for the 2002 Games, Kim drew a “most serious” warning. He retained considerable support within the IOC, however, and helped dampen boycott talk at the 2002 Games by some South Korean officials after results in some events went against South Korean athletes.

In the 2001 IOC presidential election, Kim ran second, behind Rogge. From 1988 through 2001, he served on the executive board, from 1992 to 1996 as a vice president. In 2003, Kim was elected to a new four-year term as vice president.

Last January, however, Kim was suspended from all of his IOC privileges after his arrest in South Korea, prosecutors alleging he had embezzled millions of dollars from the World Taekwondo Federation and other sports organizations.

He was convicted last June; the country’s Supreme Court upheld his conviction Jan. 14.