Referee Lee Dong-joon, 'controversy over misjudgment', re-elected chairman of the Professional Football Judgment Council '91.7% approval rate'

*This content was translated by AI.

Chairman Lee Dong-joon has been confirmed as the second president of the Korea Professional Football Judgment Council.

On the 2nd, the Professional Football Judgment Council announced the news of Chairman Lee Dong-joon's second term through an announcement on the result of the second presidential election.

According to the Presidential Election Commission, referee Lee Dong-joon was the sole candidate in this election, and the election was held on the 10th of last month. Of the 61 electors, 60 participated and the turnout was 98.36%, of which 55 approved (91.7%) and five disapproved (8.3%).

Based on the results of the vote, the Professional Football Judgment Council confirmed the winner through the third extraordinary general meeting the following day. Twenty days later, Chairman Lee Dong-joon's election as the second chairman was publicly announced.

According to the Judgment Council, Chairman Lee Dong-joon said in a previous pledge of candidates, "Our judging society is in a lot of difficulties. Due to changes in the game environment, the need to improve the ability to perform referees, incomplete evaluation systems, and lack of communication, it is difficult for referees to play a role as a responsible active member in the soccer ecosystem.

"I think it is more urgent than anything else to improve the judgment ability based on reflection, the ability of the referee to be recognized by soccer members, and to restore self-esteem and create a structure that can blow the whistle confidently in a stable environment through the thorough role of the referee once again," he said.

Chairman Lee also promised ▲ system maintenance to establish objectivity and fairness of the referee society ▲ communicating council ▲ growing council, and appealed for the support of the judges, saying, "We will keep this one sentence in mind, 'growth completed through reflection and communication', and open a new future with you."

Chairman Lee Dong-joon said, "We will build a system that enables objective communication by collecting and sharing various information related to the judgment to increase the consistency and transparency of the judgment, reduce unnecessary misunderstandings caused by subjective evaluation, and lay the foundation for the referee to stand on the field confidently." Technology should not be a means to replace referees, but a tool to enable accurate decisions and active communication of decisions by referees," he stressed.

"We will resolve the structural disconnection between referees, the Korea Football Association, and the Korean Professional Football Federation and strengthen the official communication channel between agencies to prevent referees from standing alone in the face of external criticism." We will clarify our role so that the council can be the communication channel and voice of all referees," he said. "We will combine technology and education to systematize the growth path of referees, produce more referees who will play an active role on the international stage, and establish a structure that goes one step further in professional stability and welfare. My clear goal is to build a system in which referees are recognized as a confident job and their value is evaluated fairly, he added.

The Professional Football Judgment Council is an organization created to protect the rights and interests of referees, and referee Lee Dong-joon was the first chairman. Regarding the referee's judgment press conference last year by Anyang Mayor Choi Dae-ho, FC Anyang owner, he made a statement criticizing, saying, "Increased generalization or baseless suspicions toward the entire referee team can seriously damage the independence and reputation of the referee and destroy the trust base of Korean soccer."

Regarding the suspicion of racial discrimination by then-Jeonbuk Hyundai coach Thanos, he quickly concluded that it was a racist act, saying, "It is a serious matter that seriously undermines the ethical and human rights principles of the entire soccer community beyond insults to individual referees," and issued a statement calling for the immediate initiation of disciplinary procedures and disclosure of results against the coach and his team.

Chairman Lee Dong-joon is also the referee who was at the center of the controversy over the misjudgment by declaring a "no penalty" without a video reading after seeing Jeon Jin-woo (Jeonbuk) stepped on Jang Min-gyu (Jeju) inside the penalty box in the penalty area during the match between Jeonbuk and Jeju SK in October last year. The referee's whistle was not called, even though the contact was clear and it was difficult to see it as a scene of deliberately attempting to win a penalty.

The Korea Football Association's judging committee concluded that the decision was a "misjudgment" at the time. It was concluded that it was a wrong decision not to recommend a field review with the same view as the referee in the video review room as well as the judgment of referee Lee Dong-joon who did not declare a penalty. At that time, there was a lot of controversy over the misjudgment right after the game, and all three judges, including referee Lee Dong-joon, made "misjudgment." In the end, the scene of the misjudgment was mentioned as an example of a misjudgment even during a parliamentary audit attended by Moon Jin-hee, chairman of the Korea Football Association's referee committee.

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*This content was translated by AI.