Considering Kim Yu-na’s much higher profile of being a well known Olympic champion I think it was much easier for her to say no to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism compared to lower profile athletes like Son Yeon-jae who netizens are now angered with:
Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae acknowledges spectators on the podium after winning the gold medal in the hoop event at the 7th Asian Gymnastics Championships at a university gym in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, central South Korea, on June 12, 2015. (Yonhap)
Suspicion is rising that the government disadvantaged Olympic champion figure skater Kim Yu-na because she would not cooperate with the scandal-ridden manipulative ties of President Park Geun-hye.
KBS TV reported Saturday that Kim had been on Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism blacklist for turning down a ministry invitation to attend a public trial of “Neulpum calisthenics” in 2014.
The exercise routine was developed by Cha Eun-taek, a commercial director and close acquaintance of the president’s confidant Choi Soon-sil. (……)
Meanwhile, Son Yeon-jae’s agency Galaxia SM website has crashed under high traffic volumes on Sunday evening, as the suspicion spilled over to Son, whom netizens suspect to have benefited from the minsitry for complying with the invitation. [Korea Times]
Good news out there for all you single ROK Heads, via the Marmot’s Hole comes news that Kim Yu-na has dumped her hockey player boyfriend:
South Korean figure skating queen Kim Yuna, 24, and ice hockey player Kim Won-jung, 31, have broken up, Korean media reported Tuesday.
Sources said they are unsure when the pair separated.
In August, Sgt. Kim Won-jung, while serving his mandatory military service as an athlete in the military corps, made headlineswhen he sustained leg injuries after getting in a car accident following a visit to a massage parlor. [Korea Times]
Here are the details of what Kim Won-jung did to get dumped by Kim Yu-na:
Three ice hockey national team members on active military duty, including the sergeant known to be South Korea’s figure skating icon Kim Yuna’s boyfriend, were discovered to have left their barracks without permission and failed to report a car crash they were involved in, the defense ministry said Wednesday.
On June 27, the three draftees — two sergeants, surnamed Lee and Kim, and a corporal, surnamed Lee — left their training camp in Ilsan, just north of Seoul, in a car owned by one of the sergeants, and went to a massage parlor.
On their way back to the hotel some two hours later, their car was hit by a civilian vehicle, which left sergeant Kim with injuries requiring six weeks of medical treatment and the two with minor bruises, according to the ministry.
Kim reportedly suffered ligament damage on his right knee. [The Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this just seems like one of those only in Korea stories.
