Busan South Korea, one of eight cities bidding to host the General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2009, has had a setback a week before the host city selection will be made on February 8 at the IOC General Assembly in Turin.
There appears to be a controversy over whether the city breached the IOC code of ethics.
The Korea Times reports that according to the Korean Olympic Committee (KOC), the city has been asked to explain a report by a British newspaper that a couple of Busan officials met several European “sporting leaders” in Europe.
The IOC told the Korean branch that there were some IOC members among the “sporting leaders” which is a violation of the IOC ethics code that bans bidders for IOC events from contacting IOC officials before the final bid city is selected.
After the newspaper report was made public the IOC faced protests from Busan’s competitors, which the Korea Times said could present strong arguments to the IOC about a city’s qualification to host the event.
One of Busan’s officials was quoted by the Yonhap News Agency as saying, “they (officials of the city) met European sporting leaders just to learn from their experiences of sports administration”. It has not yet been confirmed if the sports leaders included IOC officials.
The Korea Times said the KOC held an urgent meeting and recommended that Busan withdraw its bid, fearing that the possible “breach of the IOC code of ethics” by the city would damage Korea’s reputation and affect the country’s efforts to host international sports events. But the city still wants to host the IOC meeting.
A Busan official told Yonhap, “it is the IOC that will decide whether the city breached its code of ethics. We will just keep dong what we have done”.
