It has been six days since Son Jun-ho (31, Shandong Taishan), a national team midfielder who plays an active role in Chinese professional football, was detained by the public security on charges of ‘bribing a non-public official’. He, who played an active part in last year’s World Cup finals in Qatar, was arrested while trying to leave from Shanghai on the 12th and is being investigated under “criminal detention” by Liaoning Provincial Public Security토토사이트.

The Chinese government confirmed on the 16th that “a Korean national (Son Jun-ho) was found to have been detained by the Liaoning provincial public security authorities as a ‘non-state worker (non-public official) bribery’”, and the Korean Embassy in China and the Consulate General in Shenyang confirmed this fact. Notified. Prior to this, the consulate, having grasped the situation, immediately applied for a consular visit, and conducted a visit with Son Jun-ho on the morning of the 17th.
The situation is complicated. China is in the midst of an investigation to eradicate various kinds of misconduct, such as match fixing and bribery, which are rampant in the Chinese soccer world, taking the opportunity of failing to advance to the World Cup for the fifth time in a row. Former Chinese national team coach Rietie, Shandong Haowei, and ethnic Korean player Jin Jingdao were arrested. According to Chinese media, several high-ranking officials, including Chen Xuyuan, president of the China Football Association (CFA), were detained, and Du Zhaochai, deputy director of the General Administration of Sports, was dismissed.

First of all, ‘match fixing’, which is fatal for an athlete, was not mentioned, but ‘non-public official bribery’ is also a heavy charge that is sought in China up to life imprisonment. It is the same as the charges applied to many of the people who were punished when a large-scale investigation was conducted in 2009, calling for the eradication of corruption in the football world.

The Korea Football Association and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism are putting all their efforts into identifying and resolving the situation. While the CFA, which sought cooperation through an official letter, did not receive any meaningful reply as the organization was devastated by the public security investigation, the KFA closely contacted the Asian Football Federation (AFC) and the International Football Federation (FIFA), and in June A match ahead of the second consecutive match, the family He informed the national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany) of Son Jun-ho’s situation, who is working from home in the United States.

The point to note here is the status of Son Jun-ho. He left Jeonbuk Hyundai in K League 1 to join Shandong, won the league and CFA Cup in 2021, and reached the World Cup finals following last year’s CFA Cup, and is known as the top star in China. It is the first time in history to identify and investigate a famous foreign player as an anti-corruption suspect, and the player side is preparing a legal response by appointing a local lawyer.

The negative image of China and local football, which was already bad in Korea, was further aggravated by the ‘Son Jun-ho Incident’. As the anti-China sentiment reaches its peak, even those who are active in Chinese professional soccer, such as Shandong coach Choi Kang-hee, Chengdu Longcheng coach Suh Jeong-won, and Kang Sang-woo, who took office at this point, were in an embarrassing position. One footballer said, “China’s desperate national team skills, match-fixing, club bankruptcy, unpaid wages, and non-payment of transfer fees are not enough even in Southeast Asia, leaving only the impression of China as a closed country that arrests foreign players.”