{"id":112822,"date":"2026-08-08T08:34:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:34:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/112822\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:34:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:34:08","slug":"south-korean-football-body-apologises-after-report-on-referee-sex-scandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/112822\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korean football body apologises after report on referee sex scandal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/south-korea?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">South Korea<\/a>\u2019s national football association apologised on Saturday \u2060after a media report \u2060alleged it had provided \u201csexual services\u201d \u2060to foreign referees when they were in the country for international matches more than a decade ago.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">South Korean broadcaster JTBC reported on Thursday that the Korea Football Association (KFA) had provided such services to foreign referees on \u200cmultiple occasions in 2011 and 2012, including when they were in the country for qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cWe deeply apologise for causing concern over various issues involving the association, which emerged from a parliamentary hearing and an unprecedented search and seizure, and from reports \u2060about events from more than a decade ago, that even many within the organisation \u200cwere unaware of,\u201d the KFA said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In its news report, JTBC cited a 2016 sports ministry investigation that found the \u200cKFA had provided inappropriate entertainment to foreign referees on seven occasions between March \u20602011 and March \u20602012, including trips to massage parlours where the fees had included the costs of sexual services.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The KFA \u200cdid not immediately respond to an email seeking further comment and details.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe association makes clear that inappropriate conduct of \u200cthis kind, \u200cor the use of corporate cards for such purposes, is absolutely not currently \u200ctaking place,\u201d the KFA said in its statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Korea\u2019s national football association apologised on Saturday \u2060after a media report \u2060alleged it had provided \u201csexual services\u201d&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[57981,57982,12314,2810,11366,2815,171,112,33],"class_list":["post-112822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-korea","tag-2012-london-olympics","tag-2014-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-hong-myung-bo","tag-jtbc","tag-korea-football-association","tag-korean","tag-seoul","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}