The Cheongju Ice Rink, completed in 1997, is in bankruptcy, suffering from financial difficulty, and also had encountered a shutdown crisis once before, but the public opinion from citizens says our one and only ice rink in Cheongju must be saved. The present owner, Lee Sun-kyu, took the ice rink over in 2012, and it had been used by 80,000 people each year. On Feb. 26th, however, entrepreneurs including anonymous K(58), who are trying to change its purpose, auctioned off our one and only ice rink, which is in the shutdown crisis. The Cheongju local court initiated a 4th auction(minimum 2,919,400,000 won) of Cheongju Sports Town that includes the Cheongju Ice Rink. 3 entrepreneurs including anonymous K(58) bade 3,320,000,000 won and eventually auctioned it off. Anonymous K, who won, said, “Whatever my purpose is, it is my personal matter,” and said, “Such a problem with promoting skaters should be covered by Cheongju city or Chung-buk province, just like other attempts.”
  Kang Yong-gu(49), the executive director of Chung-buk Skating Union, said, “The only province where the ice rink is disappearing is Chung-buk province. We put so much effort to build up an ice rink, yet it has been delayed due to a budget crunch. If the ice rink disappears, figure skaters or short-track skaters will lose their training arena. Under the circumstance that their capacity is improving gradually and that they were ranked 6th overall in the National Winter Sports League last year, they will have to practice in another area. Their training cost is pretty tough, and at this rate, excellent players probably would leave to other regions. The world of sports and related institutes should be concerned and seek a solution.”
  Meanwhile, at 2:30 p.m. on April 3rd, the governor of Chung-buk, Lee Si-jong attended the 12th National Winter Paralympics, which was held in the Cheongju Ice Rink and encouraged the participating ice sports teams, but the sports team’s parent union, who heard about the auction that would cause the loss of the training arena, visited the governor and had a meeting with him. Taking parents’ opinions, Governor Lee Si-jong spoke his mind that he will reconsider it. Also, he said, “It would be better to renovate the roller-skating rink, which is next to the Cheongju Swimming Pool, into an ice rink rather than build up a new one.” He continued, “I will discuss about it with the Cheongju city council.” Another way to replace the Cheongju Ice Rink is being considered.
 

By Go So-young | sy35@cbnu.ac.kr

By Min Tae-kwan | tk36@cbnu.ac.kr