South Korea's sports ministry "has launched a probe into seven winter sports federations in a bid to uncover any illegal activities and recover public trust in the organisations" ahead of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics, according to Narae Kim of REUTERS. The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that the probe "would look into the activities of the skating, ice hockey, curling, skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh/skeleton and luge federations and seek the cooperation of the police and prosecution if it uncovered any evidence of corruption." The sports ministry said that with the home Winter Games just four years away, the role of the federations "was becoming increasingly important." In a statement, it said, "However, we have heard continuing allegations of misconduct, as well as complaints such as suspicions surrounding Ahn Hyun-soo's failure to make it to the national team, recent sexual harassment allegations within the curling team and... accusations that violence was used by coaching staff in the luge team, therefore we are losing trust in sports organisations" (REUTERS, 4/1).
