EdgyIceMarks
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Lurker here, but decided to post to add some context about the Valieva at Korea situation. Here in Korea, the focus of attention in this issue became less about Valieva herself and more about who arranged her trip to Korea and the circumstances behind it. I'm not sure how much this pertains to the issue of her doping at this point, but it is sort of tangentially relevant and hopefully this does bring some clarity and closure to some of the aforementioned points of curiosity brought up earlier in this thread.
1. Valieva on vacation in South Korea
Last week, Kamila Valieva's Instagram Story showed her at various places in Seoul, Korea, including Myeong-dong, the Lotte World ice rink at Songpa, and the Lotte World Tower Seoul Sky observation deck. She later posted herself at the seasides of Mokpo, located at the southwestern edge of the Korean Peninsula in South Jeolla province.
The doping scandal from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games has mostly soured opinion of her within the Korean skating fandom, and so Valieva's visit to Korea her social media presence did raise a few eyebrows, but at the end of the day, setting aside the sports and politics, it seemed as though this was just a teenager on vacation, and so her travels were considered little more than a curious occasion.
The issue blew up, however, when a photo of a welcome banner for Vaileva on Shinan Beach Hotel had been sighted on social media.
2. Potential involvement of Mokpo City and/or the South Jeolla Province Sports Association?
This could have been just the hotel's doing after having noted that they have a high-profile athlete staying over, but the banner included the Mokpo city logo on it, which made it seem as though there may have been official involvement from the city.
Some fans called the hotel and requested an explanation, and noted to the hotel that it was not a good look for them when the athlete in question was involved in a major doping scandal, was used for propaganda by a country that initiated the War in Ukraine, and is one of many Russian athletes currently banned from most international sports competitions. Reportedly, the hotel responded that they would take the banner down, and initially commented that the banner had been arranged at the request of the city of Mokpo, but later made a correction saying that it was actually done at the request of the South Jeolla (="Jeonnam") Province Sports Association instead. The person claiming to have made the phone call to the hotel has posted their mobile call records as proof, and people generally seem to trust their account of the story.
With this information, fan suspicion took on a new development. Regional sports associations are funded by local governments to promote regional sports activities. There are audits to ensure that funding is transparent and money is not embezzled. What's more, South Jeolla province does not even have an active skating programme, AFAIK there is only one indoor ice rink in the region, and the rink has been missing a figure skating coach for the past few months. So there seemed to be little reason for that sports association to be making these arrangements for Valieva.
Fans since then have tried to get in contact with the South Jeolla Sports Association and the Korean Sports Association. For a while they have not received any official response, as relevant personnel were either on vacation due to the holidays (27-29 May 2023) around Buddha's Birthday, or were overseeing the Ulsan Youth Sports Festival held around this time. [Just today, MHN Sports posted an article with an official response from South Jeolla Sports Association, which denied any involvement in - let alone awareness of - Valieva's visit. But this interview was released a couple of days days after the initial round of fan speculation]
Moreover, the location of Valieva's travel has brought renewed attention. Visiting Seoul is totally expected, but all things considered, Mokpo is not your average tourist destination in Korea, especially in the context of foreign visitors. If you were to ask an average local Korean person on the street and ask for potential places to travel in the country, I doubt Mokpo would feature in any notable frequency if at all.
So all of this made little sense, and people questioned what kind of decision-making would lead a publically-funded local sports association to make such arrangements for a banned skater from Russia who is also awaiting jurisdiction on her doping case. Suspicions also grew as to whether Valieva's visit to Korea was not just a personal tour, but rather an arranged one via an invitation, potentially with public money involved.
3. The relevance of a "Mokpo Development Research Institute"
The next day, someone identified a Facebook account that went by 목포발전연구소 (Mokpo Development Research Institute), which contained some curious findings.
Subtitled "Kamila", this Facebook post, dating back to 7 May 2023, contains pictures of an individual in group photos with Alexander Kogan ([ex?-]Director General of FFKKR), Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Kamila Valieva, Anton Sikharulidze (President of FFKKR) and Petr Gumennik.
The same account posted photos of the Bogd Khan Memorial Park 2 days prior (one can also locate the building for Gegeenten Cinema in the photo), suggesting that the individual was likely at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Incidentally, there was an ice show at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 6-7 May 2023 comprising Russian skaters. One can therefore reasonably infer that this meeting and group photo occurred some time and place close to the ice show.
In addition, the same Facebook account had a video reel of a car drive through the highways of Seoul, with people speaking in Russian in the background, and a series of photos of Lotte World Tower and the view of the city of Seoul from its glass floor observation deck. These were uploaded around 25 May 2023, coinciding with Valieva's visit to Seoul. And recall that amongst the many of Valieva's travel destinations indeed included the observation deck on the 117th floor of Lotte World Tower.
The contents posted on this account suggested that the entirety of Valieva's visit to Korea, and not just her visit to Mokpo, may have been premeditated, with whoever behind the 'Mokpo Development Research Institute' account being involved. Some have speculated that the individual behind this account got in contact with Valieva, possibly through the afterparty of the ice show held at Ulaanbaatar, and later became involved in her trip to Korea, the itinerary of which included the outskirts city that this ‘institute’ bore the name of.
This was very bizarre, not just b/c of the part where the whole trip may have been planned in advance and was mediated via an invitation, but also since this Mokpo Development Research Institute claims to be a "private research group that sheds light on the past and present of the city of Mokpo and presents a vision for its future". Meanwhile, the hotel only mentioned Mokpo city and the South Jeolla Sports Association, which are public local bodies, and do not seem to have any sort of a priori reason to have any sort of connection to this 'institute'.
Questions remain as to what the potential relationship between this 'institute' and these local bodies may be, if there are any. Or whether this is involvement of certain personnel from these local bodies but as individuals instead of the official group level, or merely a case of impersonation. That or someone is lying.
4. A potentially shady individual?
A couple days ago, the Facebook account for 목포발전연구소 (Mokpo Development Research Institute) changed its username to 세상 발전 연구소 (World Development Research Institute) and deleted posts relevant to Valieva. (At the time of writing, it seems to have forgotten to delete the page’s intro section, where it still declares itself as a private research group concerning the city of Mokpo). But people have already screenshotted and archived the relevant content.
Looking up online the e-mail address that used to be on that Facebook page previously, or simply the 목포발전연구소, points towards one particular individual. I am a little wary on posting personal information pertaining to this Mr. C*** even if they are technically all available online in the public domain. In the interests of avoiding trouble, for now I shall refer to him as Mokpo dude.
A brief overview of Mokpo dude:
5. Loose Threads and Speculation
(1) Potential involvement of Korean local bodies or public expenditure in Valieva's trip
This was the reason why the Korean fandom became quite concerned about this issue to begin with.
South Jeolla Sports Association has officially denied any involvement with, let alone awareness of, Valieva's visit to Korea, and commented that they have never been notified nor have approved anything related to this situation. The only people we know for sure to have been involved in arranging Valieva's trip in Korea are those behind Mokpo Development Research Institute.
Little is known about whatever connections there may be between this 'institute' and local sports associations or governing bodies. That said, in the outskirt regions, it is not unusual to see local statesmen or businessmen have sway over local industries, local press, or say, local sports associations, via personal connections, funding, etc, but ultimately this is quite speculatory. The remaining options are involvement at the level of certain individuals within those bodies and not as a group, someone from the 'institute' impersonating these local bodies, or someone not being forthright in their responses.
(2) Motives behind Mokpo Development Research Institute's arrangements
At the end of the day, even setting aside the issue of potential official involvement from local bodies, the question as to why and how these arrangements have been made remains.
Was this mere hospitality, or was this also a show that was trying to to prove something, with expectations of reciprocation, such as future business deals, with Valieva as a brand? One has to wonder what kind of conversations went behind the scenes behind Mokpo dude and Kogan / Sikharulidze back in Ulaanbaatar (I wonder if the War had financial repercussions for FFKKR? They did seem awfully happy together in the photo... or maybe Mokpo dude just paid for the afterparty lol), or with Mrs. Valieva throughout the trip. I'd wager at the very least, this goes beyond a mere act of generosity from a rich and zealous Valieva fan.
One also has to wonder if the people behind Mokpo Development Research Institute were not aware of the controversies surrounding Valieva, knew but did not care, or did what it did being fully aware of (or even b/c) these issues being present.
In fact, if I may speculate further, given some of the dubious history behind the projects that involved this individual, I have to wonder if Mokpo dude may have intended to scam Valieva, and perhaps even FFKKR, with lucrative-sounding offers of business or sponsorship prospects.
1. Valieva on vacation in South Korea
Last week, Kamila Valieva's Instagram Story showed her at various places in Seoul, Korea, including Myeong-dong, the Lotte World ice rink at Songpa, and the Lotte World Tower Seoul Sky observation deck. She later posted herself at the seasides of Mokpo, located at the southwestern edge of the Korean Peninsula in South Jeolla province.
The doping scandal from the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games has mostly soured opinion of her within the Korean skating fandom, and so Valieva's visit to Korea her social media presence did raise a few eyebrows, but at the end of the day, setting aside the sports and politics, it seemed as though this was just a teenager on vacation, and so her travels were considered little more than a curious occasion.
The issue blew up, however, when a photo of a welcome banner for Vaileva on Shinan Beach Hotel had been sighted on social media.
2. Potential involvement of Mokpo City and/or the South Jeolla Province Sports Association?
This could have been just the hotel's doing after having noted that they have a high-profile athlete staying over, but the banner included the Mokpo city logo on it, which made it seem as though there may have been official involvement from the city.
Some fans called the hotel and requested an explanation, and noted to the hotel that it was not a good look for them when the athlete in question was involved in a major doping scandal, was used for propaganda by a country that initiated the War in Ukraine, and is one of many Russian athletes currently banned from most international sports competitions. Reportedly, the hotel responded that they would take the banner down, and initially commented that the banner had been arranged at the request of the city of Mokpo, but later made a correction saying that it was actually done at the request of the South Jeolla (="Jeonnam") Province Sports Association instead. The person claiming to have made the phone call to the hotel has posted their mobile call records as proof, and people generally seem to trust their account of the story.
With this information, fan suspicion took on a new development. Regional sports associations are funded by local governments to promote regional sports activities. There are audits to ensure that funding is transparent and money is not embezzled. What's more, South Jeolla province does not even have an active skating programme, AFAIK there is only one indoor ice rink in the region, and the rink has been missing a figure skating coach for the past few months. So there seemed to be little reason for that sports association to be making these arrangements for Valieva.
Fans since then have tried to get in contact with the South Jeolla Sports Association and the Korean Sports Association. For a while they have not received any official response, as relevant personnel were either on vacation due to the holidays (27-29 May 2023) around Buddha's Birthday, or were overseeing the Ulsan Youth Sports Festival held around this time. [Just today, MHN Sports posted an article with an official response from South Jeolla Sports Association, which denied any involvement in - let alone awareness of - Valieva's visit. But this interview was released a couple of days days after the initial round of fan speculation]
Moreover, the location of Valieva's travel has brought renewed attention. Visiting Seoul is totally expected, but all things considered, Mokpo is not your average tourist destination in Korea, especially in the context of foreign visitors. If you were to ask an average local Korean person on the street and ask for potential places to travel in the country, I doubt Mokpo would feature in any notable frequency if at all.
So all of this made little sense, and people questioned what kind of decision-making would lead a publically-funded local sports association to make such arrangements for a banned skater from Russia who is also awaiting jurisdiction on her doping case. Suspicions also grew as to whether Valieva's visit to Korea was not just a personal tour, but rather an arranged one via an invitation, potentially with public money involved.
3. The relevance of a "Mokpo Development Research Institute"
The next day, someone identified a Facebook account that went by 목포발전연구소 (Mokpo Development Research Institute), which contained some curious findings.
Subtitled "Kamila", this Facebook post, dating back to 7 May 2023, contains pictures of an individual in group photos with Alexander Kogan ([ex?-]Director General of FFKKR), Victoria Sinitsina/Nikita Katsalapov, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Evgenia Tarasova/Vladimir Morozov, Kamila Valieva, Anton Sikharulidze (President of FFKKR) and Petr Gumennik.
The same account posted photos of the Bogd Khan Memorial Park 2 days prior (one can also locate the building for Gegeenten Cinema in the photo), suggesting that the individual was likely at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Incidentally, there was an ice show at Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia on 6-7 May 2023 comprising Russian skaters. One can therefore reasonably infer that this meeting and group photo occurred some time and place close to the ice show.
In addition, the same Facebook account had a video reel of a car drive through the highways of Seoul, with people speaking in Russian in the background, and a series of photos of Lotte World Tower and the view of the city of Seoul from its glass floor observation deck. These were uploaded around 25 May 2023, coinciding with Valieva's visit to Seoul. And recall that amongst the many of Valieva's travel destinations indeed included the observation deck on the 117th floor of Lotte World Tower.
The contents posted on this account suggested that the entirety of Valieva's visit to Korea, and not just her visit to Mokpo, may have been premeditated, with whoever behind the 'Mokpo Development Research Institute' account being involved. Some have speculated that the individual behind this account got in contact with Valieva, possibly through the afterparty of the ice show held at Ulaanbaatar, and later became involved in her trip to Korea, the itinerary of which included the outskirts city that this ‘institute’ bore the name of.
This was very bizarre, not just b/c of the part where the whole trip may have been planned in advance and was mediated via an invitation, but also since this Mokpo Development Research Institute claims to be a "private research group that sheds light on the past and present of the city of Mokpo and presents a vision for its future". Meanwhile, the hotel only mentioned Mokpo city and the South Jeolla Sports Association, which are public local bodies, and do not seem to have any sort of a priori reason to have any sort of connection to this 'institute'.
Questions remain as to what the potential relationship between this 'institute' and these local bodies may be, if there are any. Or whether this is involvement of certain personnel from these local bodies but as individuals instead of the official group level, or merely a case of impersonation. That or someone is lying.
4. A potentially shady individual?
A couple days ago, the Facebook account for 목포발전연구소 (Mokpo Development Research Institute) changed its username to 세상 발전 연구소 (World Development Research Institute) and deleted posts relevant to Valieva. (At the time of writing, it seems to have forgotten to delete the page’s intro section, where it still declares itself as a private research group concerning the city of Mokpo). But people have already screenshotted and archived the relevant content.
Looking up online the e-mail address that used to be on that Facebook page previously, or simply the 목포발전연구소, points towards one particular individual. I am a little wary on posting personal information pertaining to this Mr. C*** even if they are technically all available online in the public domain. In the interests of avoiding trouble, for now I shall refer to him as Mokpo dude.
A brief overview of Mokpo dude:
- Chairman of Mokpo Development Research Institute (목포발전연구소)
- Journalist (CEO?) for K-News (경성신문 - link obsolete), and later Jeonnam Mokpo Shinmun (전남목포신문), an online local press
- Involved in various cultural exchanges and business projects across South Korea, Mongolia and Russia
- A photo from a Twitter post from an account speculated to belong to Mokpo dude suggests that his location of stay while at Ulaanbaatar was the Best Western Premier Tuushin Hotel. In fact, there is a very close resemblance between the background shown in the Russian skater group photo and the photo of the bar at the 25th floor of this hotel, which seems to confirm that the location of the group photo is indeed Ulaanbaatar, and therefore probably took place sometime around the Mongolian ice show.
- On a video of Valieva's Free Skate during the 2021 Rostelecom Cup uploaded on YouTube by SBS Sports (can only be access with Korean IP), a comment from 2 weeks ago reads "다음주에 발리예바가 한국에 옵니다. 가족휴가~". (lit. "Next week Valieva is coming to Korea. Family vacation~") The community section of the YouTube account of this commenter "Glory Sky" links a now-obsolete link to K-News. This seems to confirm Glory Sky as our Mokpo dude, and that Valieva's trip to Korea was at least known to Mokpo dude at least a week in advance to her actual visit.
- Carat Coin (캐럿 코인): Supposedly, a blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Apparently it got delayed being listed in the Korean Stock Exchange in mid-2018, and soon after that AFAIK its value plummeted shortly after initial hype. Several people online have pointed out that this is likely a crypto scam, whose victims are said to include the elderly in the countryside who got hooked into buying them through word of mouth luring them with prospects of getting rich quick. [1] [2] [3]
- SejongBox (세종상자): It's not very clear what this is business is exactly, but I think it's supposed to be an IPTV service packaged with a Set-Top Box? The stuff I've been able to find on this says that it has been designed primarily with the dissemination of Korean-language content to foreign markets in mind, so initially I thought this was just jumping on the K-Pop bandwagon or smth. But there are advertisements on this on Facebook with some quite ridiculous claims. Supposedly, SejongBox 'uses blockchain technology to filter fake news', and is 'integrated with a Carat Coin payment system', which is supposed to use 'quantum cryptography and communications technology'. SejongBox expanded its business into Mongolia and Russia, though little is known about the current state of this business.
5. Loose Threads and Speculation
(1) Potential involvement of Korean local bodies or public expenditure in Valieva's trip
This was the reason why the Korean fandom became quite concerned about this issue to begin with.
South Jeolla Sports Association has officially denied any involvement with, let alone awareness of, Valieva's visit to Korea, and commented that they have never been notified nor have approved anything related to this situation. The only people we know for sure to have been involved in arranging Valieva's trip in Korea are those behind Mokpo Development Research Institute.
Little is known about whatever connections there may be between this 'institute' and local sports associations or governing bodies. That said, in the outskirt regions, it is not unusual to see local statesmen or businessmen have sway over local industries, local press, or say, local sports associations, via personal connections, funding, etc, but ultimately this is quite speculatory. The remaining options are involvement at the level of certain individuals within those bodies and not as a group, someone from the 'institute' impersonating these local bodies, or someone not being forthright in their responses.
(2) Motives behind Mokpo Development Research Institute's arrangements
At the end of the day, even setting aside the issue of potential official involvement from local bodies, the question as to why and how these arrangements have been made remains.
- A generous invitation from a fan of Valieva's skating?
- A publicity stunt to further their own political aspirations in the local area?
- Potential business/financial prospects?
Was this mere hospitality, or was this also a show that was trying to to prove something, with expectations of reciprocation, such as future business deals, with Valieva as a brand? One has to wonder what kind of conversations went behind the scenes behind Mokpo dude and Kogan / Sikharulidze back in Ulaanbaatar (I wonder if the War had financial repercussions for FFKKR? They did seem awfully happy together in the photo... or maybe Mokpo dude just paid for the afterparty lol), or with Mrs. Valieva throughout the trip. I'd wager at the very least, this goes beyond a mere act of generosity from a rich and zealous Valieva fan.
One also has to wonder if the people behind Mokpo Development Research Institute were not aware of the controversies surrounding Valieva, knew but did not care, or did what it did being fully aware of (or even b/c) these issues being present.
In fact, if I may speculate further, given some of the dubious history behind the projects that involved this individual, I have to wonder if Mokpo dude may have intended to scam Valieva, and perhaps even FFKKR, with lucrative-sounding offers of business or sponsorship prospects.
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