Chairman Jung Ki-hwan of Korea Racing Authority (KRA) took office as the 38th chairman of the KRA at an inauguration ceremony at its headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, on Feb. 16.
The inauguration ceremony took place with a minimum of KRA officials in attendance, in accordance with guidelines to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event was streamed live in real time via an intranet broadcasting system.
In his inaugural speech, Chairman Jung said he would be armed with a heavy sense of responsibility amid this crisis, which is caused by the pandemic, that has interrupted horse racing competitions.
He also stressed massive innovation amid outside and inside environmental changes, saying that the KRA will focus on normalizing management, creating social values and ramping up integrity and ethical awareness.
To achieve these goals, he said, “The KRA will strengthen public purposes and public interests, pursue innovation, build the ecosystem of the horse racing industry, design future-oriented business models and expand exploration of global markets and build a corporate environment with integrity and hard work.”
Specifically, Chairman Jung said the KRA will ramp up ESG management, inaugurate the social value creation committee under the direct control of the KRA chairman with participation by civic organizations related to the horse racing industry, explore overseas markets to secure future growth engines, pursue R&D of the horse industry and implement organizational and personnel innovation to make the KRA a body armed with integrity.
Chairman Jung said, “The KRA will concentrate all of its capabilities to sell online betting tickets, a top priority task.”
He said the first step to restoring public trust toward the KRA is starting with soul-searching in ways of solving things the institution has done so far.
He called for his executives and staffers to make worksites safe through shared growth and cooperation.
Lastly, Chairman Jung said, “I’ll make efforts to make this year a first of restoring public trust by making the KRA one trusted and loved by people on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of horse racing.”
A photo of students picnicking Happy Park, the predecessor of LetsRun Park Seoul, taken in 1973, which was purchased by Korea Racing Authority as part of Korea’s 100-year-old horse racing relics. (Photos: KRA)
The KRA has celebrated the establishment of Joseon Dynasty’s Horse Racing Club in 1922.
KRA Chairman Jung served as a member of the Agriculture Innovation Committee under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) and a member of the Presidential Policy Planning Committee.
He also worked as a standing auditor of the KRA between 2019 and 2021.
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