(ATR) Former Samsung chair Kun Hee Lee has asked the IOC to not consider him for reelection as a member.
Lee has suffered health issues since 2014 after being hospitalized for a heart attack and a coma. Since then Lee has not made public appearances in Korea. Samsung released a statement in 2016 denying that Lee had died in response to media speculation.
Since Lee’s health issues arose Samsung has experienced turbulent times in South Korea. Lee’s son Jay is currently on trial for his role in a growing influence peddling scandal that brought down the Geun Hye Park administration. Indicted in February, Jay Lee faces bribery charges for offering up to $38 million to Park and her confidant Soon Sil Choi.
Despite the legal troubles, Samsung has posted record earnings this year.
Lee was first elected to the IOC in 1996 in Atlanta. He was suspended in 2008 as a result of his conviction in South Korea over charges of tax evasion and embezzlement. He was later pardoned and returned as Samsung chairman. The IOC Ethics Commission reprimanded Lee, but allowed him to return as a full voting member ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
IOC members now serve eight year terms that can be renewed by vote of the IOC Session until reaching retirement age. Lee is due for renewal at the IOC Session in Lima in September. Aged 75, Lee could have served until age 80, but after missing three consecutive IOC Sessions, his tenure was already at risk.
Samsung joined the IOC TOP Program in 1998, two years after Lee joined the IOC. The company’s sponsorship lasts until 2020 in the wireless communications category.
Lee was also instrumental in bringing the 2018 Winter Olympics to PyeongChang, South Korea. It was the third time bidding for the Games.
"Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time during his continued illness," said the IOC statement.
South Korea will have one member after the IOC Session, Athlete Commission member Seung Min Ryu.
Written by Aaron Bauer
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
