(LEAD) Presidential candidates slam penalty for short trackers

(ATTN: UPDATES with Yoon Suk-yeol's comments in paras 6-7)
By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Yonhap) -- Presidential candidates vented their rage Tuesday after two South Korean short trackers were disqualified in questionable referee decisions for alleged infractions at the Beijing Winter Olympics.

Skaters Hwang Dae-heon and Lee June-seo were both disqualified from the semifinals of the men's 1,000m on Monday after getting called for making an illegal late passing and a lane change that caused contact with another skater, respectively.

Those decisions allowed Chinese skaters to advance to the final and win the gold and silver medals.

"I cannot hide my disappointment and anger at the biased refereeing in short track at the Beijing Winter Olympics," presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party wrote in a Facebook post late Monday.

"I hope our athletes will not be discouraged. You are the true winners for doing your best until the end with your skills," he said.

Yoon Suk-yeol, the candidate of the main opposition People Power Party, offered his sympathy to the skaters and asked all South Korean athletes competing in the Games to do their best until the end.

"I deeply sympathize with the anger and frustration of our athletes and want to offer them my consolation," he told reporters after an event in Seoul.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the candidate of the minor opposition People's Party, went further to accuse China of stealing South Korea's medals.

"China must immediately cancel the dirty call and return the Republic of Korea's gold medal," he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, urging China to apologize to the athletes of South Korea and the world.

"As a presidential candidate of the Republic of Korea, I strongly urge (China) to correct the wrong call on its own," he said. "What China did was a very ugly act that ruined the spirit of sports and will not be able to win the support of anyone in the world."

Sim Sang-jeung, the candidate of the minor progressive Justice Party, issued a similar statement decrying a violation of the Olympic spirit and praising the South Korean skaters as the "true winners."

"Amidst the COVID-19 disaster, many people around the world are looking for hope in the Beijing Winter Olympics," she wrote on Facebook. "More than any other Olympics, these Olympics will have to be fair."

hague@yna.co.kr
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