BEIJING -- South Korea's Olympic team leader has suggested bias by judges kept the country's short-track skaters out of the men's 1,000-meter final.
The South Korean team called a news conference Tuesday, one day after judges disqualified its skaters from each semifinal in Beijing. They included world record holder Hwang Dae-heon, who won his semifinal, then was disqualified for causing contact with a rival.
The judges' rulings meant the final included three Chinese skaters and two brothers who have a Chinese father and skate for Hungary.
South Korean team official Yoon Hong-geun says "sport needs to guarantee fair play in order for the entire human race to gain hopes, dreams and courage.''
In the rough-and-tumble of Olympic short-track racing, South Korea is a traditional power. South Korean skaters won three of eight gold medals at home in the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang.
Yoon apologized to the Korean public for Monday's results asking "for your forgiveness that I haven't fulfilled the dreams, hopes and wishes of 50 million Korean people.''