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| ▲ This composite photo shows four players from Ulsan Hyundai FC on their way to a disciplinary hearing at the Korea Professional Football League headquarters in Seoul on June 22, 2023, after making racist comments on social media. From left: Jung Seung-hyun, Park Yong-woo, Lee Myung-jae and Lee Gyu-sung. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Members of the Korea Professional Football League (K League) disciplinary committee hold a meeting on four Ulsan Hyundai FC players over racist comments made on social media at the K League headquarters in Seoul on June 22, 2023. (Yonhap) |
football players-discipline
3 K League players suspended for 1 match over racist comments
By Yoo Jee-ho
SEOUL, June 22 (Yonhap) -- Three players for the South Korean football club Ulsan Hyundai FC were each slapped with a one-match suspension Thursday for making racist comments online.
The Korea Professional Football League (K League) also ordered the trio of players, Lee Myung-jae, Lee Gyu-sung and Park Yong-woo, to pay 15 million won (US$11,580) in fine.
A fourth member of the club who had also participated in the online exchange, Jung Seung-hyun, was not disciplined.
Thursday's meeting was believed to have been the first disciplinary session on racial discrimination in K League's 40-year history.
Separately, Ulsan received a 30 million-won fine.
The comments in question were made on the Instagram page for Ulsan defender Lee Myung-jae about two weeks ago.
In a reply to a post, Lee Gyu-sung referred to Lee Myung-jae as a Southeast Asian player, in an apparent jab at the dark tone of his skin. Park Yong-woo called Lee "Sasalak," after Sasalak Haiprakhon, a Thai player who spent the 2021 season with another K League 1 club, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.
Jung Seung-hyun and the club official also played along in the comment section.
Fans who saw this exchange made a screen grab of the conversation and shared the image on fan community sites or with the media, accusing the players of being racist toward Southeast Asian people.
Lee Myung-jae deleted the post, while Park wrote an apology on his own Instagram page. Both the club and Ulsan head coach Hong Myung-bo issued apologies last week. Ulsan also said they will issue their own penalties on the players.
All four players attended the hearing to state their cases and apologized in front of cameras before the meeting.
The Korea Football Association, the national governing body of the sport, previously said it will also consider opening its own disciplinary proceedings following the K League's decision.
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