"How do you use a corporate card to pay for a massage parlor?" Park Moon-seong expresses anger over the 'sexual bribery scandal' involving foreign referees "The Football Association, how vulgar and shameless is it"

*This content was translated by AI.

Amid allegations that the Korea Football Association provided sexual favors to foreign referees, football commentator Park Moon-seong (52) strongly criticized the incident.

On the 6th, during an appearance on the YouTube channel 'Dalsu-ne Live,' Park stated, "This situation shows just how vulgar and shameless the Football Association and its staff are."

He emphasized that the recipients of the favors were international tournament referees, noting, "When it comes to matches like the Brazil World Cup or London Olympics qualifiers, our team plays against foreign teams. So, they targeted foreign referees," adding, "They provided these favors to them."

Furthermore, he pointed out that the attempt to lobby the referees themselves was a serious issue. Park remarked, "Did they ask, 'Please watch our game well'? That itself is a huge illegal act," criticizing it as an attempt to influence the outcome of matches.

He then fiercely condemned the association's funding sources and methods, stating, "The way this illegality was carried out involved visiting illegal establishments, and then using corporate cards to pay for it? They have completely lost all sense of propriety."

Commentator Park Chan-woo, who appeared alongside him on the broadcast, warned that since this involved lobbying referees dispatched by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), it could escalate beyond mere use of entertainment establishments into an international issue.

This controversy came to light when a 2016 audit report titled "Investigation Results on Corruption Among Korea Football Association Officials and Employees," prepared by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, was made public. According to the document, the Football Association provided inappropriate sexual favors to foreign referees participating in national team matches seven times over a one-year period starting from March 2011.

Specifically, on the morning of the match day during the Kuwait game for the 2012 Brazil World Cup Asian qualifiers, a corporate card payment of 500,000 won was made at a massage parlor in Seoul Gangnam to two foreign referees. Prior to that, immediately after the Oman match in the final round of London Olympics qualifiers in September 2011, favors worth 760,000 won were provided to four referees at a massage establishment in Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do. The report also indicated that sexual favors were allegedly extended even to game supervisors responsible for managing and overseeing the referees.

In response, the Korea Football Association explained, "This happened 15 years ago, and since the document retention period is five years, it is difficult to verify the exact circumstances." They added, "Unpleasant incidents may have occurred in the past, but we have now established strict internal management guidelines and are adhering to them."

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*This content was translated by AI.