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Sexual service allegations against Korea Football Association draw criticism from Japan Various outlets responded to the JTBC report, with one saying that any such service provided to foreign referees "undermines the fairness and ethics of sports." A Korea Football Association van is seen outside its office in Cheonan, South Chungcheong, on Aug. 6.NEWS1 The country's football federation is drawing criticism from around the world over allegations that its governing body paid for sexual services for foreign referees at World Cup and Olympic qualifiers in Korea. The allegations broke a day earlier, when JTBC, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, reported on Thursday that a 2016 government audit found the Korea Football Association (KFA) paid for sexual services for foreign referees and match commissioners around seven matches played between 2011 and 2012. The referees were from Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Uzbekistan. Korea did not lose any of the seven matches, winning five and drawing two during the period. The three competitive fixtures were a 2-0 win over Oman and a goalless draw with Qatar in a 2012 London Olympic qualifiers and a 2-0 win over Kuwait in a qualifier for the 2014 World Cup. With the number of wins, the KFA can be seen to have benefited from the alleged sexual services to the referees. "There are also remarks that the very act of providing inappropriate hospitality to the referees in charge of the international match was itself an act that undermines the fairness and ethics of sports," Japan's The World Magazine said in a post Friday as it reported the matter. "The issue is not only a major blow to the KFA but also ripples through the international football community." Football commentator Park Moon-sung delivers a keynote address at an emergency forum on the crisis in Korean football at the National Assembly Members' Office Building in Yeouido, western Seoul, on July 8.NEWS1 The Japanese football news site Sakanowa also said the Korean coverage "could invite the view" that criticism is being aimed at foreign referees rather than at Korean football's own problems, and added that if Japanese referees are named in the audit, the reporting could produce a rift between the two countries' football bodies. The Japanese football magazine The World and Chunichi Sports ran similar accounts, both tracing back to the JTBC broadcast. Korea's run to the semifinals at the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted with Japan, has long drawn claims abroad that referees favored the host. Criticism at home has run along the same line. "This shows how crude and backward the thinking is at the association and among the people who work there," Park Moon-sung, a football commentator, said on YouTube. "It could escalate into an international problem." However, formal consequences appear unlikely. FIFA's code of ethics carries a limitation period of five to 10 years, and the criminal statute of limitations has also passed. The association has said its document retention period is five years, that it cannot account fully for events 15 years old and that payments at entertainment venues are now blocked under a clean card system. Korea Football Association's building in central Seoul on July 1NEWS1 The payments were made under Cho Chung-yun, who led the association until 2013. Chung Mong-gyu, who resigned as president this year, took over after him, and the 2016 audit that uncovered them was conducted on his watch. The disclosure landed the same day police searched the association's offices in an investigation into whether senior officials improperly intervened in the 2024 appointment of Hong Myung-bo as national team manager. Police are examining a meeting in a bakery. Lee Lim-saeng, then the association's technical director, offered Hong the job at a bakery near the manager's home in July 2024, after the association had dropped a monthslong search that included foreign candidates. Under the association's own rules, the technical director has no standing to appoint a manager. No criminal findings have been announced in the appointment case against Hong, Chung or Lee. BY PARK LIN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr] This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.