Former Coach Jeong Jong-sun Denies Allegations: "Never Received a Penny, No Sexual Harassment"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Jeong Jong-seon, a former South Korean national soccer team player and former president of the Korea High School Soccer Federation, who was arrested and indicted on charges of embezzling soccer club operating funds and committing sexual crimes against parents, has completely denied the charges in court.

Jeong’s defense attorney stated on the 6th during the second pretrial hearing of Jeong’s case involving quasi-rape and other charges, held at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 22 (Presiding Judge Yang Cheol-han), "We deny all charges of embezzlement related to official duties, and there was absolutely no incident of forced molestation or quasi-rape."

Since it was a pretrial hearing, Jeong was not obligated to attend as a defendant, but he appeared in court and personally pleaded his innocence.

Jeong said, "The performance bonus was decided at a parents’ general meeting that it would be paid if the team achieved a top-four finish as stated in the contract. I served as the coach of Eonnam High School for 20 years and built the strongest team, but I never took a single penny nor committed any sexual harassment."

Park, who was indicted as an accomplice and managed the soccer club’s sponsorship funds, also acknowledged, "We admit that the performance bonuses were collected from parents and paid to Jeong, but we were only providers and did not jointly receive the money."

Jeong was prosecuted on charges of receiving large sums of money from parents under various pretexts such as soccer club operating funds and performance bonuses during his tenure as coach of Eonnam High School in Seoul, and embezzling part of the training compensation paid by overseas clubs to the school. He was also indicted on charges of committing sexual crimes against parents.

Park was prosecuted for receiving money from parents while serving as the general manager overseeing the soccer club’s parent sponsorship and paying it to Jeong.

The court concluded the pretrial hearing procedures on this day and scheduled the first trial for Jeong and others on the 20th at 2 p.m.