A South Korean court ruled that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism acted lawfully in ordering the Korea Football Association to seek heavy disciplinary action against its president, Chung Mong-gyu.
The Seoul Administrative Court’s Administrative Division 5, led by Presiding Judge Lee Jeong-won, ruled Thursday against the association in its lawsuit seeking to overturn the ministry’s notice of special-audit results and related corrective demands.
The court said that while some findings may have been inappropriate, that alone did not make the ministry’s corrective demands unjust or illegal. It added that the level of disciplinary action requested fell within the ministry’s discretionary authority.
The court also said the association is not unconditionally required under the Public Audit Act to comply with the ministry’s demands. If the association does not comply, the ministry may conduct another audit, but it has no direct means to impose discipline or force implementation, the court said.
In November 2024, the ministry announced the results of a special audit of the association and demanded disciplinary action of at least a suspension of qualifications against Chung and other key figures. The audit said it confirmed 27 cases of illegal or improper handling of 업무, including problems in the process of appointing the national team’s coaching staff.
The ministry launched the special audit in July that year after controversy over alleged unfairness surrounding the appointment of Hong Myung-bo as head coach of the national team.
At the time, the ministry demanded disciplinary action of at least a suspension of qualifications against Chung, then full-time vice president Kim Jeong-bae and Technical Director Lee Im-saeng, citing responsibility for poor institutional management. It also ordered the association to report back within one month. The association sought reconsideration, but the ministry rejected the request.
The association then filed suit to cancel the ministry’s action and also sought a suspension of enforcement.
An association official said the ministry sought disciplinary action against nearly 20 staff members and executives at the roughly 100-person organization, and that it would be difficult to accept all of the demands.
In February last year, the court granted the request to suspend enforcement, allowing Chung to run in the next association presidential election and win.
The court said then there was an urgent need to prevent irreparable harm to the association from enforcement of the ministry’s action, and that a suspension was unlikely to significantly harm the public interest.
That decision was upheld in September last year by the Supreme Court on a re-appeal. The ministry appealed, but the Seoul High Court reached the same conclusion in May that year, and the Supreme Court later finalized it.
With the association losing the main lawsuit, the ministry’s disciplinary-action demand against Chung has regained effect.
Chung won a fourth consecutive term in February last year, receiving 156 of 182 valid votes in the election for the 55th KFA president.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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