President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday the public needs broader access to global sporting events through improvements to the current broadcast system, amid controversy over limited national coverage of this year's Winter Olympics. Lee thanked the Korean athletes and staff who participated in the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, but expressed regret that public enthusiasm did not match the levels seen during previous global sporting events. "Despite the determination and excellent performances of Korean athletes, there was a lack of strong public excitement compared with past international events," Lee said at a Cabinet meeting. "With the World Cup set to be held in North America in June, the systems need to be improved to more broadly guarantee public access to international events," he added. Lee did not specifically cite reasons, but his remarks were widely seen as referring to controversy surrounding Korean cable channel JTBC's exclusive broadcasting of this year's Winter Games. Civic groups criticized the limited national coverage after JTBC aired the event exclusively, foll