The Ulsan Hyundai racism case is even more disappointing for another reason.
The Ulsan club has taken the K League 1 title race by storm, with rival Jeonbuk Hyundai faltering. There’s talk that they’ve already crossed the 9th division plateau. The atmosphere was at its peak with a large number of fans visiting Ulsan Munsu Stadium, but they created a reef for themselves.
A racist incident occurred on the 11th. Ulsan left back Lee Myung-jae posted a photo on his personal social media account, and Lee Kyu-sung, Park Yong-woo, and the Ulsan team staff took turns making racist comments. Lee Kyu-sung said, “Southeast Asian quarterback is reliable,” and Park Yong-woo said, “Sasalak form is crazy,” once again making a racist comment about skin color. Even the club staff commented, “Sasalak super tackle,” and the controversy spread like wildfire.
Park Yong-woo, Lee Kyu-sung, and the Ulsan team staff were caught up in the racism controversy when they compared Lee Myung-jae, who has darker skin than others, to a Southeast Asian quarterback and mentioned specific players by name. The players deleted the posts as the situation escalated, but it was too late.
Ulsan even issued an official apology. “As a result of this incident, Ulsan will conduct training for its personnel to eradicate all forms of discrimination. We would like to apologize to Sasalak and the people involved in this incident. We will closely analyze the incident and hold a punishment committee as soon as possible to proceed with disciplinary procedures.” The players and officials involved in the incident also posted apologies.
It’s unfortunate that such a controversy, even a racist one, has arisen in the league’s leading club. From an outside perspective, the K League is often perceived as a league rather than individual clubs, and this incident will lower the perception of the K League from overseas.
It’s also unfortunate that Ulsan’s players didn’t follow the mentality of Ulsan coach Hong Myung-bo. Before Ulsan’s away match against Suwon FC on June 6, Hong expressed his disappointment with Korean soccer as a whole.
He said, “Korean soccer needs to improve in many ways. Look at the disabled seats. No matter how good you are at soccer, if you don’t develop something like that, it’s not acceptable. They say there are disabled seats upstairs, but they’re for away fans…” he said, pointing to the temporary disabled seats.
Where Hong pointed, a spectator wearing an Ulsan jersey was watching the soccer field from a temporary handicapped seat. It was a temporary arrangement, but the conditions were very poor. First of all, it was not a good place to watch the game. There was only a red stripe in the corner of the stadium.
“It’s something that should be improved for anyone involved in soccer, whether it’s home or away,” says Hong Myung-bo. I don’t need to be special because I’m disabled, but that should be improved. Everywhere I go, there are no soccer fields like that. I was surprised,” he said, pointing out the problems with aging facilities and disability rights in the K League. 메이저놀이터
While everyone on the field sympathized and applauded Hong’s bitter words, the players committed racist acts shortly afterward.
An apology is not enough. An official from the KFA said, “There are clear guidelines and punishments. Apart from Ulsan’s own disciplinary action, there may also be disciplinary action at the federation level. The punishment committee will consider whether or not to punish the team after learning the details and extent of the incident.”