Figure skater Kim Yu-na files suit against her former agency

Lee Kim & Partners, a Seoul-based law firm representing Kim, said Monday that the skater has filed a suit against IB Sports and that the first court appearance over their case was held last Wednesday.

According to the law firm, Kim claims that IB Sports owes her 894 million won (US$794,766) from her endorsement deals she signed while under contract with that management company.

Kim's deal with IB Sports expired in April last year, and she and her mother founded a new agency named All That Sports. Kim, the reigning Olympic gold medalist and the 2009 world champion, is one of the most popular athletes in the country and is a highly sought-after star among advertisers here.

An official with IB Sports argued that the agency is entitled to its share from Kim's endorsement deals that she reached while with IB.

"We're willing to return whatever she's due, but we also need to get our share," the official said.

Kim had been mired in a legal dispute with another former management firm, too. In April 2007, she switched over to IB Sports while still under contract with International Merchandising Corp., a subsidiary of the multinational management firm IMG. The skater said she chose IB Sports because the previous agency failed to line up enough endorsement deals.

International Merchandising sued IB Sports for damages and claimed IB had improperly tried to entice Kim away from the IMG subsidiary, but a Seoul court ruled in May 2008 that under Korean law, athletes can terminate contracts with agents at their discretion.   

Kim arrived home Sunday from her training camp in Los Angeles and is scheduled to perform at ice shows in May and August. She was scheduled to perform at the 2011 World Figure Skating Championships in Tokyo this week, but the event has been postponed indefinitely following a devastating earthquake in Japan earlier this month.

(Yonhap News)