'Even Seol Young-woo and Hwang In-beom were there' — Historic controversy over Europe's elite club, brazenly mourning a 'genocide criminal': Kim Ye-geon's current team

*This content was translated by AI.

Czerwona Zvezda (Serbia), the club where South Korea's top young prospect Kim Ye-geon (18) plays, as well as Hwang In-beom (FC Porto) and Seol Young-woo (Augsburg), is facing criticism from the international community. A shocking act of praising war criminals inside the stadium has caused significant backlash.

British media outlet 'BBC' reported on the 6th (Korea time) that "Zvezda fans unfurled a large banner honoring war criminal Ratko Mladic before the start of the Partizan vs. Belgrade derby match."

Even the club itself joined in, sparking further controversy. Zvezda's official social networking service (SNS) account posted a video of the crowd holding up a large banner to honor Mladic, along with footage of players from both teams observing a one-minute silence, accompanied by a bowing emoji. In response, the official SNS account of Bosnia and Herzegovina's national football team, the country that suffered the tragedy, left replies filled with profanities, expressing strong anger.

Mladic, who died at the age of 84 in a UN prison last August, is a notorious figure known for carrying out brutal ethnic cleansing targeting non-Serbs during the Balkan Wars in the 1990s. He led the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995 and orchestrated a 1,460-day siege of the capital Sarajevo, killing over 10,000 civilians. After evading capture for 16 years, he was arrested in 2011 and sentenced to life imprisonment by the UN International Criminal Tribunal in 2017 on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

However, within Serbia, Mladic is still treated as a national hero. According to local reports, Mladic's remains were transported wrapped in the national flag via a government-chartered plane. Thousands gathered for his funeral held at a church in Belgrade, the capital, under tight security by military generals and soldiers. The event received military honors nearly equivalent to a state funeral, including the firing of three volleys of artillery. Porfirije, the Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, openly expressed respect, stating, "His name will be deeply engraved in the memories and prayers of the Serbian people."

This atmosphere of glorifying war criminals and fanatical nationalism within Serbia spread directly to the stadium. Last month, during a UEFA Europa League playoff match against Czech club Viktoria Plzen, Zvezda's fans also displayed banners honoring Mladic, resulting in a fine of 90,000 euros (approximately 130 million won) imposed by UEFA. Yet, immediately after the penalty, at the derby match, they brazenly unfurled an even larger banner, and the club itself joined the tribute procession.

The European Union issued a strong warning regarding Serbia's conduct. Marta Kos, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, abruptly canceled her visit to Serbia, stating, "Glorifying war criminals is absolutely incompatible with Europe's values, which are based on reflection and reconciliation with the past."

Due to the blatant glorification of war criminals that penetrated even the sports arena and the club's casual complicity, Zvezda has become unable to escape condemnation from the global football community. Further severe sanctions from UEFA appear inevitable.

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*This content was translated by AI.