International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge was pleased that IOC Vice President Kim Un-yong, who is serving a two-year prison term in South Korea on corruption charges, has resigned from the IOC.
Kim’s resignation was accepted Friday. He stepped down rather than face an expulsion vote at the IOC session in Singapore in July.
Rogge said Tuesday, “it’s always nice not to have to vote on the exclusion of a colleague. I still believe that the session would have taken the right decision had we had to vote. But if we don’t have to vote and if he has resigned, which is the proper thing to do, of course everyone is pleased”.
Still facing possible expulsion in Singapore is Bulgarian member Ivan Slavkov, who was implicated in a BBC documentary last year on alleged bid city corruption. Slavkov has denied any wrongdoing claiming he played along to expose what he thought was a real attempt at corruption.
Rogge said, “Mr. Slavkov is responsible for his acts. He knows what he has to do. He will be entitled to present his case in front of the IOC session. It’s up to him to decide what he wants to do”.
