Kim Jin-Sun Steps Down as Pyeongchang 2018 President

The organising committee of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics has lost another senior member after Kim Jin-sun quit as President of the organisation on Monday.

Kim, 67, who had been President of the committee (POCOG) since 2011, had his resignation accepted by the government despite his term running until October 2015.

“Pyeongchang 2018 is at a turning point for the latter half of its Games preparation, which requires more detailed planning and execution,” Kim said in a statement.

“At this critical juncture, I believe that Pyeongchang 2018 needs new leadership and a stronger system that will effectively carry out various Games-related projects. And this is why I decided to resign as President of POCOG.”

Kim’s departure follows that of Moon Dong-hoo, the Vice President and Secretary General of the committee, who tendered his resignation in May citing health problems but only quit earlier this month.

The organisation is in the process of a review by the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), who refused to say what prompted the investigation in the first place.

“Yes, there is an audit going on but it’s not a regular audit. It is a specific-subject audit. POCOG is not big enough for us to audit regularly, like we do the ministry of culture, sports and tourism annually,” a BAI official told Reuters.

“The process is still ongoing. We just completed only the on-site part of the months-long audit. Thus we have no result yet.”

Cho Yang-ho, head of the Korea Table Tennis Association, has been favored to succeed Kim. Cho, though, denied he would take up the role.

“Taking the position is a great honor for the country but I have a lot of work at hand that requires my full-time commitment,” he said in a statement.

“Therefore I cannot take up the position as the head of POCOG. But I will do my best in order to make the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games successful.”

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