Son Heung-min’s father, coaches face child abuse allegations

Son Woong-jung, the father of South Korean football star Son Heung-min and director of his namesake football academy, and two of his coaches have been accused of verbal and physical abuse of a young athlete, Yonhap News Agency learned Wednesday.

Son and two of his coaches at Son Football Academy in Chuncheon, 76 kilometers northeast of Seoul, are accused of verbally abusing a player and giving him corporal punishment for making mistakes during training sessions and matches.

The parents of the player reported Son, 62, and the two coaches to police in March after discovering a bruise on their son’s thigh, following a training camp in Okinawa, Japan.

The parents claimed that one coach struck their son in the thigh with a corner flag on March 9, an injury that required two weeks of treatment.

The player told police that the coach forced him and his teammates to run from a goal to the halfway line in 20 seconds after they’d lost a match. When the player and three teammates failed to make it in time, they were forced to take a pushup position and were struck in the buttocks.

The player also accused Son of verbally abusing him over mistakes during training sessions, and the second coach of hitting him in different body parts while inside the players’ dormitory at the academy.

Gangwon provincial police forwarded the case to the prosecution in April.

The player’s father told Yonhap News Agency that he was “greatly disappointed” that his son had been abused.

“Thinking about how frightened my son must have been makes me angry,” the father said. “I decided to report the case to police because I didn’t want to see another case like this.”

In a statement sent to Yonhap News Agency, Son apologized to the player and his family but denied the abuse allegations against him and his coaches.

“I swear that coaches at my academy have never engaged in any action that wasn’t based on love for our young players,” Son claimed. “Much of what the plaintiff has said is not true, and we at the academy are fully cooperating with the authorities during this investigation, without distorting or covering up facts.”

Son also said the player’s parents demanded “hundreds of millions of won” in settlement, and the academy could not accept it.

Son acknowledged that he might have failed to stay on top of changing coaching trends.

“I admit that I stuck to my own ways without recognizing the standards set by the changing times,” he said. “I will seek other ways that can help young athletes concentrate on the field and stay committed to training.”

Ryu Jae-yool, an attorney representing the player, countered that Son is only trying to portray himself and his coaches as innocent and make the plaintiffs look greedy for demanding a large sum of money in settlement.

“The parents brought up the amount of settlement fees out of anger, and there wasn’t any serious talk on how much money should be paid,” Ryu claimed. “This wasn’t a one-off incident that they took to police. The player spent time away from his parents and endured persistent abuse. He took a courageous step to bring this forward.”

Son Woong-jung, a former player himself, has enjoyed increased prominence in recent years for raising one of the greatest players in South Korean football history. His disciplinarian teaching of Son Heung-min, who became the first Asian player to win the Premier League Golden Boot as the top scorer in 2022, has generated a great deal of media interest both in South Korea and overseas.