Seoul —
The governing body of football in South Korea has issued a public apology after a bombshell report alleged that it had spent thousands of dollars on sexual services for foreign referees before or after games in the early 2010s.
The government’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism first issued the report in 2016 after investigating corruption in the Korea Football Association (KFA). But it wasn’t made public until last week, when South Korean channel and CNN affiliate JTBC obtained the report and published its damning details.
The report, which CNN has since obtained from lawmaker Jin Sun-mi’s office, found that the KFA paid for “sexual entertainment” at massage parlors on at least eight occasions from 2011 to 2012, for foreign referees and football officials visiting South Korea. Three of the matches involved were qualifiers for the World Cup and Olympic Games.
In a statement published on its website Saturday, the KFA said it “deeply apologizes for the concern caused by various issues, ranging from a parliamentary hearing and a search and seizure operation to media reports about events from over a decade ago that many members of the association were unaware of.”
