Birmingham City star Paik Seung-ho is embroiled in a World Cup row after South Korea captain Son Heung-min's military service was mocked by reporters. The South Korean players opened their World Cup campaign with a 2-1 victory over Czechia last week and face co-hosts Mexico on Friday.
Skipper Son reportedly refused to speak to the Korean media afterwards and there are claims of a player-led media blackout over an incident that caused a stir back home. In footage from a pre-tournament training session in Guadalajara on June 7, unnamed reporters could be heard allegedly ridiculing Son's exemption from standard military service.
Son completed a three-week training stint in 2020 having been legally excused from the standard 21-month service by captaining his country to a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. Paik was also given an exemption in 2023 after captaining South Korea under-23s to victory at the Hangzhou Asian Games. He completed the condensed training programme in 2024, shortly after his first season at Blues ended.
Ex-Tottenham Hotspur forward Son, now of Los Angeles FC, and his teammates have reportedly scrapped their media duties in retaliation. A statement from the Korean Football Association said: “The Korea Football Association expresses regret over the inappropriate remarks made by some media personnel during the national football team’s training at the Guadalajara base camp. With a sense of responsibility to represent South Korea on the global stage of the World Cup, the Taegeuk Warriors are doing their best to repay the support and expectations of the people. However, the recent leak of inappropriate conversations between some media officials at a training site caused great shock and disappointment to the team.”
