The most complaints were reported in taekwondo with 106 cases, followed by baseball with 71, and football with 63. The ministry data showed that winter sports were also not free from corruption:

22 complaints were filed in ice skating, followed by ice hockey with 15, skiing with 10 and bobsleigh with four complaints. South Korea's first ever Winter Olympic Games is just four months away.

By year, 274 complaints were filed in 2014, followed by 195 in

2015 and 209 in 2016. This year, 62 corruption cases were reported to the center in the first eight months.

The data also showed 248 cases were about privatizing an organization's administration and 87 cases related to match-fixing activities, such as making biased calls. Thirty cases were about violence and 21 cases were about school admissions.

The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, South Korea's top sports body, was criticized recently after it amended its code to allow for commuting of the sentences of officials convicted of any of four major offenses -- embezzlement or breach of duty, school admission corruption related to sports, violent or sexual assault, or match-fixing. Following the revision, 24 officials applied for a pardon and five of them saw their lifetime bans reduced to reprimands or five-year suspension.

"Sports corruption occurs every year and people call for it to be corrected, but the government is taking a step backwards," Kwak said. "We must end this vicious cycle and live up to people's belief that sports should be fair and clean." (Yonhap)