South Korean Olympic skating star ‘defects’ to China after sexual harassment ban

Mr Lim, obscured left, won gold for South Korea at the country's home olympics

Credit: Zsolt Czegledi /EPA

A South Korean speed skater who won gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics has applied for Chinese citizenship and defected to his new country’s skating team after being banned from training or competing for Korea due to a sexual harassment charge. 

Lim Hyo-jun became a national hero three years ago after winning gold in the 1,500 metre short track speed skating event and following that up with a bronze in the 500 metres discipline.

In June 2019, however, Mr Lim allegedly pulled down the underwear of a fellow skater during a session at the national training centre, exposing his team-mate to a number of female skaters. 

The Korea Skating Union banned 24-year-old Mr Lim from training and representing the nation for one year, the JoongAng Daily reported, but he filed an injunction to have the ban lifted in December 2019. 

The punishment was suspended, although Mr Li was ordered to pay a fine of 3 million won (£1,900).

An appeal court found Mr Lim not guilty in June of last year on the grounds that the victim had been acting aggressively towards the women and that Mr Lim’s actions did not constitute sexual harassment. 

That ruling has since been appealed to the South Korean Supreme Court and, if the judges overturn the appeal court’s decision, the ban will be reimposed and effectively rule out Mr Lim skating for Korea at the Beijing Olympics next year.

Mr Lim’s agency released a statement at the weekend, saying he had applied for Chinese citizenship due to the “difficulties and disappointments of not being able to continue his career.

“Lim wanted to win his second straight Olympic gold medal in Beijing as a representative of Korea, but he has not been able to train anywhere in Korea for the past two years”, the agency added. “He just wanted to find ways to put his skates back on as an ice skater”. 

Mr Lim admitted in an interview in January that he had been approached by China to join its skating team. He is understood to have already left for China and will join up with his new team-mates as soon as he has completed a mandatory coronavirus quarantine period. 

Mr Lim’s departure for one of Korea’s biggest rivals at next year’s Winter Games has attracted criticism and his agency has called on the public to respect his decision and refrain from insults or spreading rumours about his motivation.