Korea Football Association opens disciplinary case against referee for alleged remark

The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced Friday that it has opened disciplinary proceedings against a referee for allegedly making a sexually harassing remark toward a player. The KFA's amateur referee evaluation group referred the case to the Disciplinary Committee due to the gravity of the situation.

Ji So-yun, a player for Suwon FC Women in the WK League, accused referee Bae Sun-young of telling another official during a match last Friday, "She has been sensitive from early on. She must be on her period." The match was streamed live on the Korea Women's Football Federation's YouTube channel. Ji stated that she was protesting a non-call when the remark was made. According to Ji, she warned the referee that such comments could lead to discipline, at which point Bae issued her a yellow card. Bae reportedly grabbed a red card during Ji's angry reaction but did not show it to the player.

Bae initially denied making the comment. She later clarified that her words were part of a chat with a fellow official and did not refer to any particular player, while also claiming she did not specifically use the word "period."

Suwon FC Women requested investigations from both the KFA and the Korea Women's Football Federation earlier this week. In response, the KFA stated it will explore ways to establish a culture of mutual respect between officials and players in women's football and will prepare measures to prevent similar incidents. Ji is the most capped South Korean footballer of any gender with 175 matches and holds the record for the most international goals with 75.