Changwon District Prosecutors' Office revealed 46
players, including nine from South Korea's military side Sangmu Phoenix, were
charged on Thursday in relation to the attempted fixing of 15 matches from June
to October last year.
Prosecutors also charged 11 brokers, including several
former players, with match fixing.
A K-League crackdown has already resulted in 10 players —
eight from the Daejon Citizen club alone — being booted out of the sport for
accepting cash in return for helping to throw matches, while another has been
banned for five years.
"We've confirmed so far that a wide range of
players, not just reserve players but players who are on the national team and
highly paid players, have been involved," Changwon's lead prosecutor said
in a televised statement.
The league is expected to convene a meeting to discuss
the latest arrests, which have thrown the 28-year-old league into chaos.
Local media reported that several teams could struggle to
field teams for the weekend's matches due to the arrests.
One of the highest profile players to be detained in the
ongoing investigation is South Korea international Choi Sung-kuk, who came
forward under a K-League amnesty that offered reduced penalties and ended on
July 7.
A player was also found dead in a hotel room with media
reporting a suicide note was found at the scene linked to the match fixing
saga.
South Korea's government has also threatened to
"shut down" the country's professional soccer league after losing
patience with the embarrassing scandal.
The
state-run sports bookmaker, Sports Toyo, has been prevented from taking bets on
games since the corruption scandal broke.
