Son Heung-min’s father summarily indicted for child abuse charges

Son Woong-jung, a football coach and father of the Premier League star Son Heung-min, was summarily indicted Friday on charges of abusing young players at his football training center.

The regional prosecutors in Chuncheon, some 75 kilometers northeast of Seoul, said Son and two of his assistant coaches at Son Football Academy in the eastern town were ordered to pay an undisclosed fine and to complete a training program designed to prevent further child abuse.

If the court or the defendants do not seek a public trial following the summary indictment, then the prosecutors’ orders will be finalized.

One of the assistant coaches is Son Heung-min’s older brother, Heung-yun.

The three coaches are accused of physically and verbally abusing young players at the senior Son’s namesake football training facility.

The parents of one player reported Son and his staff to local police in March, and police forwarded the case to the prosecution the following month.

The parents claimed that their son sustained injuries to his thigh area that required two weeks of treatment after Son Heung-yun struck him with a corner flag during training camp in Okinawa, Japan, in March.

The parents charged that Son Woong-jung hurled profanities at players for making mistakes during training sessions at the same Okinawa camp.

Video clips obtained and viewed by Yonhap News Agency in July showed Son Woong-jung kicking a player during a match and other coaches hurling profanities at players.

Son Woong-jung has countered that many of the charges levied against him and his staff are not true and said he has not done anything that was not based on love for the players at the academy.