New IOC ethics chief vows to improve transparency

Published : Sept 17, 2017 - 14:53 Updated : Sept 17, 2017 - 14:53

EUMSEONG -- Ban Ki-moon, the newly elected chief of the ethics body at the International Olympic Committee, said Sunday he feels a heavy responsibility taking the job, but will try to improve the transparency of the organization.

Ban, who served as the UN secretary-general from January 2007 to December 2016, was officially elected at the IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on Thursday (local time) to lead the Ethics Commission, an independent body that establishes the framework of ethical principles and looks into the cases that violate the IOC Code of Ethics.

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (C), who now leads the International Olympic Committee`s (IOC) Ethics Commission, poses for a photo with his wife Yoo Soon-taek (L) and Lee Pil-yong, head of Eumseong County, at Eumseong County office in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, on Sept. 17, 2017. (Yonhap)

Ban said there's still some problems at the IOC and vowed to make the top Olympic body clean. The 73-year-old South Korean said he will first look into a vote-buying scandal in the Olympic Games biddings, including one for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games that also involves some of the IOC members.

"I know there was some negative incident regarding the Rio de Janeiro Olympics," Ban told South Korean reporters in his hometown Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province. "We will investigate that case and will report at the IOC Session in February in (South Korea's) PyeongChang."

Ban, who was also a South Korean foreign minister, said he is confident in handling ethics with the IOC. He is scheduled to attend the Ethics Commission meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, in November.

"I've worked closely with the IOC during my 10-year tenure as the UN Secretary-General," he said. "I will make sports become an important route for peace and harmony." (Yonhap)