The Korean Equestrian Federation is under investigation as the result of a scandal surrounding South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, who is accused of collusion.
It is reported that an unofficial advisor to Park, with no government status, Choi Soon-sil, was arrested earlier this month along with another one of the president’s former aides. They were charged with fraud, coercion and abuse of power. Yet another aide was arrested for leaking confidential state documents.
Choi, whose daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, is a dressage rider who was part of the gold medal winning team at the 2014 Asian Games, is known as one of the most powerful people in South Korea and has ties numerous non-profit organizations, including the Korean Equestrian Federation. She also has a close relationship with the organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics (Pyeongchang 2018) and had major influence over the choice of venue for the Games.
It is suggested that Choi used her position and her friendship with Park to coerce people and organizations into making large donations to groups close to her.
The government will now review the decisions of the Korean Equestrian Federation, run by Samsung Electronics executive, Park Sang-jin, with regards to athlete selection, training and disbursement of funds. They will seek to discover any favours that may have been given to Chung or other people close to Choi.
It is alleged, for example, that Samsung gave €2.8 million ($3.1 million) to a company in Germany owned by Choi and her daughter as part of a “consulting arrangement” to fund Chung’s equestrian training.
Chung is ranked 190th in the world in the FEI Rankings and is aiming to compete at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
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