▲ Chung Mong-gyu, Hong Myung-bo
Former Korea Football Association (KFA) President Chung Mong-gyu was forwarded to prosecutors today (the 22nd) on charges of falsely stating in relevant documents that proper procedures were followed during the appointment process of former national football team coach Hong Myung-bo.
This comes about three months after the case was transferred to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Riot Investigation Unit.
The Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Riot Investigation Unit announced today that it has forwarded former KFA President Chung Mong-gyu, former Technical Director Lee Im-saeng, and former Senior Vice President Kim Jung-bae to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office without detention on charges of obstruction of business by deceit.
They are accused of improperly intervening in the duties of the National Team Committee, which has the authority to recommend a coach to the KFA board of directors, and fabricating reference materials from the committee submitted to the board to conceal this fact.
Specifically, investigations revealed that the reference materials falsely stated that former National Team Committee Chairman Chung Hae-sung had requested work regarding the appointment of a successor coach, even though he had made no such request upon stepping down.
Police also stated that the documents included phrases implying that former Director Lee Im-saeng, who lacked the authority to appoint a coach, proceeded with the coach appointment process through legitimate authority.
Police determined that former President Chung and others had such false materials produced through deceit, taking into account that public criticism had been raised regarding procedural fairness during previous coach appointment processes, which ultimately obstructed the board's duties.
Police explained that former President Chung and others sought to create an appearance that proper procedures were followed during the appointment of former coach Hong Myung-bo because there had been public criticism of procedural fairness in previous coach selections, thereby including false content in the board deliberation agenda materials.
Regarding former coach Hong Myung-bo, the police decided not to forward him, concluding that there was no evidence to suggest he was directly involved in the National Team Committee or the board's coach appointment process.
In addition, police decided not to forward him on other filed complaints, such as suspicions of receiving excessive salary and defamation related to disputes among national team players, deeming the evidence insufficient.
The Seoul Jongno Police Station had been assigned a total of eight complaints related to the suspicions since July 2024 and launched an investigation, but spent two years without taking any significant action.
Following the World Cup elimination, attention focused on the existing investigation status, and amid continuing remarks by President Lee Jae-myung holding the coach accountable as a failure of personnel management, the police transferred the case in July to the Financial Crime Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, often referred to as the police's special operations unit.
Afterward, as the civic group People's Livelihood Countermeasures Committee filed additional complaints against former coach Hong and others, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency consolidated and investigated a total of nine filed complaints.
Just a month after launching the investigation, in August, police questioned former coach Hong as a suspect and raided the KFA in Cheonan and the Football Association Building in Jongno-gu, Seoul, securing National Team Committee minutes, audit materials from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and mobile electronic data.
During this process, police confirmed that KFA officials had improperly intervened in the duties of the National Team Committee and utilized deliberation agendas containing false information during the board's resolution process.
On the 26th of the same month, former Senior Vice President Kim Jung-bae, and on the 2nd of this month, former President Chung Mong-gyu were summoned and questioned as suspects, respectively.
In addition, police questioned 60 related individuals, including members of the National Team Committee.
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