Board of Audit and Inspection begins investigation into ‘suspicion of covering up the 2012 Football Association referee sexual entertainment case’

The Board of Audit and Inspection has launched an investigation into allegations that the Korea Football Association covered up the 'referee sexual entertainment incident' in 2012 despite knowing about it. Kim Ho-cheol, Chairman of the Board of Audit and Inspection, attended the general meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on the 19th and responded to a related question from Rep. Kwak Gyu-taek of the People's Power Party by explaining, "We are trying to confirm whether the audit team at the time knew about the referee's sexual entertainment, but since most of the people involved have retired, it will likely take some time to confirm." Previously, a media outlet reported that the Board of Audit and Inspection conducted an investigation into the Korea Football Association's corporate card in 2012, but for an unknown reason, suspicions of referee sexual entertainment were not included in the audit results. When asked by Rep. Park Gyun-taek of the Democratic Party of Korea whether the so-called "Tiger faction" issue, including audit committee member Byung-ho Yoo, who served as Secretary General of the Board of Audit and Inspection during the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, has been resolved, Director Kim responded, "If there were preferential treatment due to abuse of personnel and inspection rights in the past, we are taking appropriate personnel action," and added, "Once the results of the follow-up task force from the government investigation are released, we will take strict action, including personnel action." When asked about alternatives to abuse of inspection rights, Director Kim said, "We have reviewed all internal regulations to correct the problem and are preparing to legislate to make things more certain."