South Korea football boss Huh Jung-moo dropped defender Hwang Jae-won from his roster for the East Asian Cup Tournament Thursday, citing the player’s ``personal issues.’’
The 27-year-old Pohang Steelers center back was linked with Internet-based rumors that he pressured his girl friend to undergo abortion after she was found to be pregnant.
The woman, known as a former contestant on the Miss Korea beauty pageant last year, wrote on a message board of the Korean Football Association (KFA)’s Internet site last week that she had been dating a South Korean international football player from Pohang whose surname is ``Hwang’’ for eight months.
Hwang has been urging her to abort the baby while refusing to meet her in person, she said.
The KFA declined to comment whether Hwang’s dropping from the national team was related to the scandal. Hwang, who is overseas, is expected to return to South Korea on the weekend.
thkim@koreatimes.co.kr