Football S Korea face ‘crisis’ over match-fixing

SEOUL: The South Korean government will beef up penalties for match-fixing to deal with the ‘crisis’ that has led to the arrest of a handful of football players. Park Sun-kyu, vice-minister of culture, sports and tourism said they were taking steps to root out the problem. Those convicted of attempting to fix matches or giving bribes will now face a maximum prison sentence of seven years or a fine of up to $70 million. Five players have been arrested so in far in the probe with the state-run sports bookmaker Sports Toto being stopped from taking bets on matches at the request of K-League club owners.



Published in The Express Tribune, June 9th, 2011.