The Ministry is set to look into the skating, ice hockey, curling, skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh/skeleton and luge federations as it continues to crack down on alleged illegal activities of sports federations across the nation.

According to Reuters, a statement released by the Ministry has said it will work with the police and prosecutors should any its investigation uncover evidence of corruption.

Investigations have been ongoing in South Korea since the Sports Ministry claimed to have uncovered 337 different corrupt practices at 493 sports agencies, including accounting fraud, nepotistic hiring of executives and embezzlement following a nationwide inspection of nearly 3,000 sports bodies at the national, provincial and municipal levels.

The Korean Volleyball Association and Seoul Taekwondo Association have already been raided over allegations of corruption and executives embezzling funds and, following several incidents relating to Sochi 2014, the South Korean Ministry now seems to have stepped up its efforts to clamp down on wrongdoings in its winter sports federations.

The statement from the Ministry said that, with the home Winter Olympics and Paralympics just four years away, the role of the federations was becoming increasingly important within South Korea.

It added: "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.

"The Ministry has launched a special investigation to discover any illegal activities going on within these organisations and come up with measures to deal with them in a transparent and fair manner."

There was a public outcry in South Korea when Viktor Ahn secured three gold medals for Russia at the Sochi Olympics after switching allegiance from South Korea following clashes with the Korean Skating Union ©Getty Images


There was public outcry in South Korea when Viktor Ahn, formerly Ahn Hyun-soo, won his fourth, fifth and sixth Olympic gold medals when representing team Russia in Sochi.

The speed skater had won three gold medals as part of the South Korean Olympic team but switched his allegiance to Russia following clashes with the Korean Skating Union (KSU) and his failure to qualify for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Despite his "defection", the majority of South Koreans supported Ahn's move, instead blaming the KSU for the in-house feuding that had caused a number of rifts within the organisation.

"This investigation, unlike the previous one on the general administration of sports association conducted last year, will focus on the national team selection process and the management of facilities and equipment," the Ministry said.

Other incidents in South Korean winter sports saw the women's curling team threaten to quit the sport last week following allegations of abuse from head coach Chung Young-sup and assistant Choi Min-suk.

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