S. Korean national football head coach clears names in match-fixing scandal

PAJU, South Korea, May 31 (Yonhap) -- The head coach of the South Korean men's national football team on Tuesday cleared a pair of names after rumors had emerged of their involvement in a widening match-fixing scandal. At the start of the national team training camp here in Paju, just north of Seoul, coach Cho Kwang-rae said two key midfielders, Kim Jung-woo and Yoon Bitgaram, have not been involved in any attempts to throw matches in their professional circuit, the K-League. "I heard rumors that some national team players might be connected with match fixing," Cho told reporters, as South Korea prepares for friendlies against Serbia and Ghana early next month. Cho was referring to the scandal that has seen five active K-Leaguers get arrested on charges of receiving money from gambling brokers in exchange for deliberately making mistakes and helping their teams lose matches. One former K-Leaguer, Jeong Jong-kwan, was found dead Monday after an apparent suicide, after leaving a note saying he was "ashamed" to have been a part of match fixing. "The names Yoon Bitgaram and Kim Jung-woo were mentioned," Cho said of the national team members. "I tried to confirm their involvement through various channels, and it turned out they have nothing to do with the situation." The name of Yoon, a midfielder for Gyeongnam FC, floated around when a national team-caliber player was rumored to have engaged in match throwing, but he was partially cleared when Kim Dong-hyun, a former Gyeongnam player and a one-time national team player, was summoned by prosecutors for questioning. Kim Jung-woo, a midfielder for Sangju Sangmu Phoenix, got into the rumor mill when he was abruptly demoted to the reserve squad earlier this month despite leading the K-League with eight goals. "Kim and Yoon have been falsely accused," Cho said. "I plan to send a stern message to the national squad players, in no uncertain terms, about match fixing." Cho said he was worried that a few bad apples would affect the rest of the sport, adding, "If we root out the problems now, the talk of match fixing will disappear in the K-League." The coach said he hopes the upcoming friendly matches will help restore fans' faith in football. "I will order our guys to play their hearts out and do so with a sense of duty," Cho said. Two of the arrested players are goalkeepers, who often have the biggest impact on the outcome of games, and who are thus considered popular targets for brokers. Jung Sung-ryong, South Korea's No. 1 netminder, said he hoped his goalkeeping brethren would quickly get their acts together. "I hope we can all fight off temptations (of big payouts from match fixing)," Jung said, adding he'd never received such offers. "At times like this, we goalkeepers should bear down even more and play harder." Others who reported to the camp apologized to football fans. Shin Hyung-min, a Pohang Steelers star and the first to report, said he wanted to apologize on behalf of his K-League teammates, adding that match fixing "should be eliminated entirely, and hopefully things will wrap up this time on a positive note." Ki Sung-yueng, a former K-Leaguer who is now with Celtic FC in the Scottish Premier League, said he too feels the responsibility for the recent problems. "I'll try to turn things around for our sport with good performances in the upcoming matches," Ki said.