Bulgarian court OKs extradition in Olympic bribery case

SOFIA, Bulgaria — A Bulgarian court on Friday ordered the extradition to the United States of a Korean national wanted on charges related to the Salt Lake City Olympic bribery scandal.

The Korean, John Kim, is the son of Un Yong Kim, an International Olympic Committee vice president from South Korea. The elder Kim was reprimanded by the IOC for his involvement in the Salt Lake City bribery scandal.

John Kim is accused of lying to FBI investigators and using a fraudulently obtained green card for a "sham" job that a telecommunications executive testified was arranged by Salt Lake's bid leaders.

He was one of three minor players indicted in the tainted bid for the 2002 Winter Games. Kim, who was living in New York, fled to South Korea before a U.S. court charged him in September 1999 and never returned.

John Kim has always said he is innocent of the charges.

There has been speculation that the U.S. government wants him to testify at the trial of Utah bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson, scheduled to begin in Salt Lake City on Oct. 28.

The pair face federal fraud, conspiracy and racketeering charges in connection with more than $1 million in cash and gifts given to influence the votes of IOC members during the bid campaign.

John Kim was arrested on an Interpol warrant in May by Bulgarian police when he arrived from Paris at the invitation of the Bulgarian Olympic Committee, Ivan Slavkov.

On Friday, Sofia City Court Judge Daniela Rosenova granted the U.S. request to extradite him, but did not immediately spell out her motives.

Kim declined to comment after the Friday hearing, but his lawyers, Kamen Sitnilski and Radian Gichev, said they would appeal the decision.

He said a 1924 legal assistance accord with the United States, on which the court based its decision, was annulled by a 1951 Bulgarian law that revoked all previous legislation.

Kim's father received a "most serious" warning in 1999 after an internal inquiry into the cash, scholarships and other inducements offered to IOC members by Salt Lake City bidders. The scandal forced the expulsion or resignation of 10 IOC members.

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Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret Morning News