S. Korean Firms Provide Financial Support To Country's Winter Sports Ahead Of Sochi

South Korean companies "are providing support to all 13 winter sporting events" that the country's athletes will compete in at the Sochi Olympics, according to YONHAP. According to the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI), the lobbying group for conglomerates, local companies "have been providing direct and indirect assistance to athletes and sports federations to help the country become a power in winter sports." The business federation said Samsung Group "has particularly helped bolster South Korea's stature on the ice rink." Such measures have been followed by Korean Air Lines and KB Kookmin Bank. The latter "played a role in picking up and supporting Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kim Yu-na early in her career." CJ "chose to support snowboarding and skiing," with Daewoo Int'l and Hana Financial Group "sponsoring bobsleighing and the luge, respectively." Shinsegae Group has said it will provide 10B won ($9.2M) through '18 to help curling (YONHAP, 2/3).