Sexual favor scandal revives doubts over Korea's historic 2002 World Cup semifinal run

Police officers leave the Korea Football Association (KFA) headquarters in Seoul, Friday, after searching the office to investigate whether KFA executives unlawfully intervened in the hiring process of former national team head coach Hong Myung-bo. Yonhap

The disclosure of the national football association’s alleged provision of sexual entertainment to foreign referees between 2011 and 2012 is expanding beyond national disgrace toward doubts over the legitimacy of Korea’s landmark 2002 World Cup semifinal advancement.

It has revived the 24-year-old suspicions that the Korean national team had been favored during the World Cup matches and thus gained the exceptional result, although there were no grounds to back the suspicion of any illegality involved.

However, regardless of the correlation between Korea's good performance and the alleged provision of sexual entertainment, the scandal is tarnishing the country's image and intensifying criticism for the already embattled Korea Football Association (KFA).

Some foreign media outlets, especially those in Japan, which co-hosted the 2002 World Cup with Korea, have been reporting on the latest allegations, which were made public last week and were revealed through a 2016 Korean government audit. The audit showed the KFA’s corporate credit cards were allegedly used to pay for sex services for visiting foreign referees at massage parlors and sexual entertainment facilities in Seoul and other cities that hosted international matches between March 2011 and March 2012.

These reports revived allegations that Korean officials bribed referees during the 2002 World Cup.

"During the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, dubious referee calls in the knockout matches against Italy and Spain sparked referee bribery allegations from Western media outlets, including The Guardian and The New York Times," Zak II, an online outlet by Sankei Shimbun, reported on Friday.

"With the recent exposure of sexual favors provided to international referees, it is almost inevitable that long-standing suspicions — that Korea’s historic 2002 World Cup run was also the product of illicit entertainment — will resurface," it reported.

Some Japanese media outlets, including Football Tribe, also reported on allegations that Japanese referees may have been involved.

“Allegations have surfaced that Japanese referees who previously officiated international A matches for the Korean national team were entertained with sexual favors … If the reports by the Korean media are true, the Japan Football Association and the J.League will be forced to take action. This could potentially urge a review of referee assignments for certain official matches,” Football Tribe reported.

Some other foreign media outlets, including Chinese news media Kankan News, have raised the possibility that Korea could be stripped of its 2012 London Olympics bronze medal, claiming it would severely damage the international credibility of Korean football.

Probing the bribery suspicions surrounding the 2002 World Cup, however, would be difficult due to the passage of time and the difficulty of proving the claims, experts say.

"The sexual entertainment cases being discussed took place in 2011 and 2012, but there's a huge gap between them and the 2002 World Cup. And confirming if there was sexual bribery lacks realistic grounds," lawyer Seo Jeong-bin was quoted as saying by YTN.

"Even so, it is miserable that the wonderful memories [of advancing to the semifinals] for the Korean people are being disparaged and tarnished."

As public criticism escalated, the KFA released a statement on Saturday apologizing for causing concerns over the series of allegations, including the sexual favors issue.

"We deeply apologize for causing great concern through various issues surrounding the association," it said, adding the alleged provision of sexual entertainment is an issue of the past.

"All members of the KFA will take this widespread external criticism deeply to heart, using it as an opportunity for thorough reform. To ensure a better future for Korean football, we will continue our rigorous efforts alongside deep self-reflection. To meet the elevated external standards and public expectations, we will also enhance the transparency and ethical integrity of our organizational culture."

However, the apology was not enough to relieve public distrust in the KFA, especially as it said earlier that providing sexual entertainment to foreign referees had been a "customary" practice in other countries as well.

“Is referee bribery and sexual entertainment considered wrong now only because public standards have changed? … Please, just resign, all of you," football commentator Park Moon-sung wrote on Instagram. "Taking responsibility is not done through a lip-service apology; it is demonstrated through concrete action.”

An online user wrote on Instagram, "How can the largest sports governing body in the country be this incompetent and disorganized? Honestly, the association should be dissolved and rebuilt from scratch. Government funding for this body should be cut as well."

KFA has been embroiled in multiple corruption allegations and under probe after Korea's early exit from the 2026 World Cup, such as the alleged improper hiring process of national team head coach Hong Myung-bo, who resigned in late June.