The players from six different teams allegedly took bribes in return for trying to fix the results of games or bet on games after learning their outcome would be rigged, prosecutors said Thursday in a statement.
Prosecutors found the outcomes of 15 K-League games last year were rigged and they will continue to investigate to find out if more games were fixed, the prosecution office in the southeastern city of Changwon said.
“It has spread,” said Lee Kap-jin, the former vice president of the Korean Football Association and the head of the newly formed misconduct committee that is charged with eradicating match-fixing from the Korean game. “We didn’t expect that it would spread like this but we have to wait and see. If you are a doctor and find cancer, you have to wait and see how far the cancer has spread before you operate.
“I have no idea how many players will be investigated, that is a matter for the courts, but we know that we can’t take it easy because if you do, you lose.” Eleven non-players — including illegal gambling brokers and members of organized crime groups — were also indicted over the scandal, officials said.
The latest indictments are in addition to a group of 15 — including 11 K-League players — who were already indicted last month over similar allegations, prosecution spokesman Kwak Kyu-hong said.
K-League officials, who subsequently imposed lifetime bans on 10 of the 11 players, plan to meet in coming days to decide whether to punish the newly indicted players, a K-League official said on condition of anonymity.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said some of the new indictments were directed at players who had since quit the game.
The K-League refused to comment on the new developments but told The Associated Press that it would be releasing a statement soon.
“The prosecutors will continue to investigate and the K-League will act according to those findings,” Lee said.
“If the KFA has any additional punishment, it can do so but we are focusing on the big picture and thinking about the future. In conjunction with the legal proceedings that are going on, we have to think about educating young players.
“The players involved so far have been adults and we want to prepare young players to protect themselves and the game. We are not concerned with the criminals behind this scandal — that is for the law — we have to think about the players. We know that this won’t be a quick solution.” The match-fixing scandal has rocked the 28-year-old K-League — Asia’s oldest professional football league — with government officials threatening to shut it down if any more schemes are committed from now on. Former K-League midfielder Jeong Jong-kwan, who allegedly worked as a broker, was found dead in an apparent suicide in late May.
The highest-profile player involved in the scandal is Suwon Bluewings striker Choi Sung-kuk, who has appeared in 26 international matches for South Korea.
Choi, who joined Suwon this year from Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma, had acknowledged attending a meeting between players and gambling brokers but insisted he rejected bribe offers. Still, prosecutors indicted Choi because he later told investigators he accepted the bribes before returning them, Kwak said.
Yonhap news agency said Choi took 4 million won ($3,760) in return for helping fix the result of a game last year.
It said other indicted players received kickbacks ranging from 3 million won ($2,820) to 31 million won ($29,140).
Another top indicted player is Kim Dong-hyun of military club Sangju Sangmu, who made six appearances for the national team. Yonhap reported Kim was allegedly involved in plots to fix the results of eight K-League games and allegedly earned 400 million won ($376,050) illicitly by betting on games.
Eight of Kim’s colleagues at Sangju Sangmu were also indicted over the scandal, the prosecution statement said.
Officials said no current national team members were indicted.
Earlier this week, there were reports that Olympic team captain Hong Jeong-ho was involved. The 21-year-old defender has appeared eight times for the national team and has denied any wrongdoing. Hong hasn’t been indicted but he has not yet been cleared.
“Hong has not been included on this list as investigations are still ongoing,” Kwak said. “We will have to investigate more and wait and see what the results are.”
