Cha Bumkun Reveals His Feelings After Being Listed in Noh Sangwon's Notebook
At the Awards Ceremony: "I Almost Missed the Chance to Meet You All"
Likely Included on the List Due to Petition for Cho Kuk and Jung Kyungshim
Former national soccer team coach Cha Bum-kun, whose name appeared in the notebook of former intelligence commander Noh Sang-won, suspected as the mastermind behind the December 3 emergency martial law incident, expressed bitter feelings. At an awards ceremony held on the 20th at the HW Convention Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, former coach Cha opened his speech by saying, “I almost missed the chance to meet you all,” referring to his inclusion on Noh’s 'collection (arrest) target' list.
Former Coach Cha Bum-kun is being interviewed by the press after the 37th Cha Bum-kun Football Awards ceremony held on the 20th at the Crystal Hall of HW Convention Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News
At the ceremony, where he presented awards to 22 young soccer hopefuls and coaches, former coach Cha said, “Today, the day of the awards ceremony, is the most meaningful day of the year. But this time, my heart is even more overwhelmed. I almost missed the chance to meet you all.” He continued, “I have no interest or desire in anything other than soccer. I don’t know much about other things,” adding, “I think I should praise Cha Se-jji, the representative of Footwork, who has splendidly developed the Cha Bum-kun Soccer Award. I have never praised him before, and I almost parted ways without even saying thank you for his hard work.”
He also said, “I can’t go into details, but a similar situation happened 50 years ago. I thought it was all in the past, but it happened again this time. I can’t believe it,” and added, “I was shocked and bewildered as to why my name was written in that notebook.”
Due to this shock, former coach Cha reportedly postponed watching the professional debut match of his eldest son, Cha Du-ri, the coach of Hwaseong FC. He said, “I can’t go to watch the game because my mind is unsettled. My son may feel disappointed, but the situation is not resolved, and I feel uneasy in many ways.”
On the 14th, it was confirmed that the notebook of former commander Noh, who was arrested and indicted on charges including involvement in a major internal rebellion, contained a list of about 500 prominent figures marked as 'collection targets.' The list included former President Moon Jae-in, Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Cho Kuk, former leader of the Innovation Party, broadcaster Kim Eo-jun, and former coach Cha. It is presumed that former coach Cha was included because he submitted a petition requesting leniency to the court handling the trial of Cho and his wife Jung Kyung-shim on charges of their children’s admission fraud in January last year.
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