Football federation provided sexual entertainment for foreign referees: gov't audit
The signboard for the Korea Football Association (KFA) is seen outside its headquarters in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Thursday. Yonhap
The national football federation apparently provided sexual entertainment to foreign referees before and after international matches held in Korea between 2011 and 2012, a past government audit report has shown.
The audit report, compiled by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2016, said the Korea Football Association (KFA) used corporate credit cards to pay for sexual entertainment for visiting referees at massage parlors and other adult establishments in Seoul and other cities that hosted international matches between March 2011 and March 2012.
Those matches included qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, according to the report.
Cho Chung-yun was president of the KFA at the time.
JTBC was the first to report on this case Thursday. Former KFA officials told the broadcaster that those international referees specifically asked to be served at adult establishments and that it was "a common practice at the time" to oblige them. One former KFA executive claimed that such a practice was even more egregious in other countries.
A current KFA official said it was difficult to verify uses of its corporate cards from that long ago but said it has since implemented strict internal guidelines.
The report surfaced only hours after police raided the KFA headquarters in Cheonan, some 90 kilometers south of Seoul, as part of a probe into the KFA's 2024 appointment of ex-men's national team head coach Hong Myung-bo.
Police seized documents that they believe will help them determine whether there had been any improper meddling and obstruction by KFA leaders, including its former chief Chung Mong-gyu, during the coaching hiring process.
Both Hong and Chung stepped down from their posts in the aftermath of Korea's elimination from the group stage at this year's World Cup. They were also called in to testify during a parliamentary session on July 30, with lawmakers grilling them about much-criticized operations at the KFA and reasons behind Korea's early exit from the World Cup, among other issues.