Football body offers special pardon to suspended players

SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- A total of 27 South Korean football players, including national team goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae who was suspended for a midnight drinking spree during an international football tournament in Indonesia in 2007, have been granted a special pardon, the country's sport governing body said Monday.

Lee and three other players of the national squad -- Lee Dong-gook, former
English Middlesbrough attacker, defender Kim Sang-sik, and forward Woo Sung-yong
-- visited a bar in Jakarta, Indonesia, where the Asian Cup was held in June
2007, after they lost to Bahrain in the group match.
At that time, the Korea Football Association (KFA) banned the accused players
from playing in the FA Cup for two or three years and in the national team for
one year.
The KFA said its new chairman Cho Chung-yun has invoked his right to pardon in
order to release a total of 27 players, including the four former national
players, from suspension. "The KFA has granted a pardon in order to promote unity
in the local football circle," the association said in a statement.
The pardoned players will now be allowed to participate in the KFA-led nationwide
tournament from now on in their clubs. All four are playing in the Korean
domestic league. They already have been allowed to join the national squad since
last November as the one-year suspension period expired, but only Lee Woon-jae
plays for the team.
brk@yna.co.kr
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