Gwanjgu Mayor Kang Un-tae apologized Wednesday over the forged letters of the government guarantee used to win the city’s bid for the 2019 World Aquatics Championships.

His apology came a day after the central government asked the prosecution to investigate the unidentified bidding officials in connection with the document manipulation.

Kang, who led the southwestern city’s successful bid for the tournament, blamed himself for the scandal.

“The incident is due to my lack of discretion. I feel responsibility for it and offer my apology,” he told senior officials of the city.

The prosecution summoned two mid-level officials from the bidding committee on the same day and pressed them for the details on the forgery. It was the first summons in connection with the scandal and other officials are likely to be called in for questioning.

To begin with, the prosecution will focus its investigation on whether the forgery was committed by just a few working-level bidding officials alone or whether it was done with tacit consent by the leadership of the committee or Gwangju City.

Kang also shed light on the meaning of the championships being awarded to Gwangju.

“It is significant that the international swimming federation (FINA) has awarded the 2019 edition of the championships to Gwangju even as it got to know that the drafted bid documents were wrong,” he said. “We will stage a successful World Aquatics Championships without fail and let the world know Gwangju as an international sport city.”

Noting that Gwangju did not seek unilaterally to host the event and that the central government gave the final go-ahead, the mayor called for its budgetary support. On July 19, when the host city was announced, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism revealed the forgery and said that it would revoke its financial guarantee.

Five district council speakers from Gwangju helped him out. The five council speakers held a press conference on Thursday to urge the central government to provide financial support for the championships.

According to the ministry, the ministry found on April 26 that the committee had filed manipulated letters to the FINA on April 2. The committee later replaced the forged letters with the original ones when it submitted its final bid.

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)