Korea Football Association opens disciplinary proceedings against referee for alleged sexist remark

By Yoo Jee-ho

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- The national football governing body said Friday it has opened disciplinary proceedings against a referee for allegedly making a sexually harassing remark on a player.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) said its amateur referee evaluation group decided to refer the case to the KFA's Disciplinary Committee, considering the gravity of the situation.

Ji So-yun of Suwon FC Women in the WK League has accused referee Bae Sun-young of telling another official during a match last Friday, apparently in reference to the player, "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 said she was at first protesting an earlier non-call by Bae and then the referee made the apparent remark.

"After I heard her, I told her, 'What did you just say? You can be disciplined for saying something like that.' And that is when she gave me a yellow card," Ji said.

As Ji reacted angrily, Bae grabbed a red card but did not show it to the player.

Bae initially denied ever making that comment but later clarified that her words did not refer to any particular player and she was only having a chat with a fellow official. Bae also claimed she did not specifically say the word "period."

Earlier this week, Suwon FC Women asked both the Korea Women's Football Federation and the KFA to look further into the matter.

The KFA said it will prepare measures to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents and will explore ways to establish a culture of mutual respect between players and officials in women's football.

Ji, 35, is the most capped South Korean footballer, male or female, with 175 matches, and has also scored more international goals than any South Korean player with 75.