Veteran Lee In-jeong, Chairman of the Asian Mountaineering Federation, Agreement to Sponsor the Armed Forces Sports Unit
Aug 27, 2025
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A related sponsorship agreement ceremony was held at 10:30 a.m. on the 27th at the Armed Forces Sports Unit. Lee Sang-hyun, chairman of the Korea Cycling Federation (audited by the Korea Sports Association), and Jin Kyu-sang, commander of the Armed Forces Sports Unit, attended the signing ceremony on behalf of Chairman Lee.
The donation is a meaningful donation made by Chairman Lee, who served in the Vietnam War, adding individual donations to veterans' allowances paid by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, Seoul Metropolitan Government, and Seocho-gu. The donation will be provided 1 million won per event by selecting 10 out of 25 events of the Armed Forces Sports Unit every year. Chairman Lee expressed his intention to encourage and support athletes of the Armed Forces athletic unit who are committed to enhancing their national status by returning the allowances he received as a veteran to junior athletes.
In 2025, the first year, 10 sports were selected, including cycling, hockey, track and field, handball, archery, table tennis, judo, weightlifting, badminton, and tennis. It will also support a variety of events sequentially in 2026 and 2027.
Chairman Lee said, `As a senior athlete, I want to be a little supportive to my junior athletes. We hope that the sponsorship will boost the morale of the athletes of the Armed Forces sports unit and serve as a priming water for the revitalization of civilian sponsorship." It is expected that the donation will serve as the foundation for the leap of the athletes of the Armed Forces Sports Unit and strengthening the status of Korean sports.
Lee is a professional mountain climber who led the 8,156-meter-high Manaslu Peak as the leader of the Korean Manaslu Climbing Team of the Dongguk Mountaineering Association in 1980. Since then, he has led several expeditions, including the South Korean Everest Expedition. In the early 2000s, Eom Hong-gil and the late Park Young-seok provided support for the 14 Himalayan Wandeung in both directions. He served as president of the Korea Mountain Federation from 2005 to 2016. It has greatly contributed to the expansion of the mountain into the realm of sports. During his tenure as chairman, sports climbing was adopted as an official event of the National Sports Festival. South Korea has established itself as a leading country spreading climbing skills and culture to many Asian countries, including China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. In addition, it actively led exchanges with the world's mountaineering community by attracting international climbing competitions in Korea. Since 2009, he has served as president of the Asian Mountain Federation. It has contributed to strengthening cooperation among Asian member countries and promoting relations with the International Mountain Federation. He was the first Korean to be honored as an honorary member of the International Mountain Federation.
In the field of sports administration, his performance is also remarkable. He served as a director of the Korean Sports Council, chairman of the inter-Korean sports exchange committee, and policy advisor. During the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games, he served as the head of the Korea House. In particular, through the 「Taein Sports Scholarship」 project, which began in 1990, it has delivered scholarships of about 660 million won to a total of 741 aspiring athletes over 36 years. It was also highly praised for its contribution to fostering youth sports and expanding the base. In recognition of his contributions, Chairman Lee was awarded the Minister of Finance's Commendation in 1994, the Prime Minister's Commendation in 1998, the Coal Industry Medal in 2011, the Prime Minister's Commendation in 2015, and the Peony Medal in 2022.
His athletic footprints continue to the next generation. The second son, Lee Sang-hyun, CEO of Tae-in Co., Ltd., is serving as the chairman of the Korea Cycling Federation and the administrative auditor of the Korea Sports Association. He served as the president of the Korean Hockey Association and the director of the Korean Sports Council. He also played an active role on the international stage as the deputy head of the South Korean team at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 and the Paris Olympics in 2024. Chairman Lee Sang-hyun served as chairman of the Korea Hockey Association, following his maternal grandfather Koo Tae-hoe (former chairman of the Korea Weightlifting Federation) and his father Lee In-jeong (former chairman of the Korea Mountain Federation). For the first time in the Korean sports world, he has become a hot topic by serving as the head of a sports organization for three generations.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
