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We recently reported on how professional K League citizen and provincial football clubs rely excessively on municipal subsidies funded by taxpayers. One of the reasons struggling clubs continue to operate—and even multiply—is their collusion with "local power." Today (October 20), we examine one such case: the incumbent head of a citizen football club, who has a criminal record including five convictions for violence, ran for a city council seat. The Korea Football Association's mandate on "political neutrality" completely failed to function.
Reporter Hong Seok-jun brings us this exclusive report.
[Reporter]
This is an election bulletin from a candidate running for the Yeoju City Council during the 2022 local elections.
The candidate's career credentials proudly list the title of "incumbent" head of YeoJu FC.
Candidate A, who lost the election at the time, made a second bid by registering as a preliminary candidate for the city council this year as well. However, after a history of multiple criminal offenses—including violence—came to light, he failed to receive a nomination and still remains as the head of YeoJu FC.
YeoJu FC, a club in the third-tier semi-professional K3 League, is a citizen club operated primarily on subsidies provided by Yeoju City and Gyeonggi Province. Critics point out that club head A violated the Korea Football Association's articles of incorporation mandating "political neutrality" as well as league operational regulations that prohibit club personnel from engaging in political activities.
The Korea Football Association stated, "There appears to be grounds for a rule violation," adding, "We will review referring the matter to the Fair Play Committee after monitoring disciplinary actions taken by the local sports community."
Previously, following SBS's reports raising "suspicions of embezzling subsidies by inflating meal expenses," YeoJu FC has been subject to an audit by Gyeonggi Province regarding its overall operations.
[Interview: Choi Min-hee / National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee Member (Democratic Party of Korea): This is an act that inevitably invites suspicions of using a citizen football club funded by citizens' tax money as a personal political stepping stone. Had he been elected, it would have been a textbook conflict of interest where the recipient of subsidies and the person reviewing them become the same person.]
Club head A explained to SBS, "I maintained political neutrality and never violated any regulations."
(Video by Hwang In-seok and Yang Du-won | Video Editing by Park Gi-deok | Graphics by Yang Gi-tae)
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