Willingness to end racism, penalties for setting 'bad precedent'

 "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

These are the famous words of Martin Luther King, a black civil rights activist who spent his life fighting racism.

Injustice is contagious, just as a small cigarette ember tossed carelessly can start a massive forest fire. Perhaps even worse than the injustice itself is the inability to see it and turn a blind eye to it. A healthy society is one that corrects wrongs, even when they happen, and offers hope for justice.

King's words, more than half a century old, are especially relevant today. On June 22, at the Korea Football Association Soccer Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, a "Racial Discrimination Punishment Committee" organized by the professional football league was held. It was held to discuss disciplinary action against Ulsan's Park Yong-woo, Lee Sung, and Lee Myung-jae for making racist comments on social media.

The players and the club's team manager made racist comments on public social media, jokingly comparing the players' appearance and skin color to those of Southeast Asians. In particular, Park Yong-woo mentioned the real name of Sasalak, a Thai player who previously played for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in the K League.

After their social media comments went viral, fans in Korea, Thailand, and overseas, and even Sasalak himself, strongly criticized the inappropriate behavior of the Ulsan Hyundai players, turning the incident into an international racism issue.

As the controversy grew, the players deleted the post and issued an apology. On the 12th, Ulsan Hyundai posted an apology on their official social media, and a day later, Ulsan head coach Hong Myung-bo publicly apologized for the inappropriate behavior of his players. Realizing the gravity of the situation, the KFA and the Football Association of Korea eventually referred those involved to a punishment committee.

The first 'racism' punishment committee in 40 years

This was the first time in 40 years that the K League, which was founded in 1983, held a punishment committee for racism. Fans were eager to see what kind of punishment the league would hand out. With no precedent, the committee had a tough time 안전사이트 deciding what to do.

The outcome was more disappointing than expected: the federation suspended the three players for one game each and fined them 15 million won ($15,000). It also fined the Ulsan club 30 million won for its management of the team. Jeong Seung-hyun, who did not make any direct racist remarks, escaped punishment.

"Although the players did not intend to degrade or insult a specific race or individual, we determined that distinguishing people based on racial characteristics such as skin color and appearance or making them the subject of jokes constitutes racial discrimination or human rights violations," the league's disciplinary committee explained, adding, "In terms of the level of discipline, we took into account the fact that it was posted on SNS rather than a direct act and referenced similar disciplinary cases in overseas leagues."

However, the league's penalty code already had a specific disciplinary standard for racist language. According to this, the penalty can be "suspended for 10 games or more and fined up to 10 million won". However, instead of imposing a slightly higher fine in this case, the Federation drastically reduced the suspension to just one game. The federation's position is that only one of the two penalties is sufficient. Critics say that this is a "softball" and "lenient" punishment for an overt act of racism.

The issue of racism in sports is one of the most sensitive issues in the world right now. The incident has also become a major issue internationally, tarnishing the image of the K League. The decision of the penalty committee was closely watched by many fans because there was a consensus that the federation needed to respond to this unprecedented incident in Korean soccer.

The federation said it looked to overseas examples, and it's true that disciplinary standards vary in Europe. But what is clear is that once racism is recognized, it is dealt with with a firm hand.

In the English Premier League (EPL), the world's top soccer league, racial incidents are not uncommon due to the wide range of nationalities that play in the league. Twelve years ago, in 2011, Liverpool's Luis Suarez was suspended for eight games and fined £40,000 ($66,000) for using the term "negrito," a slur for black people, against Manchester United's Patrice Evra.

In the same year, Chelsea's John Terry was suspended for four matches and fined £220,000 (approximately $360,000) after he was caught using a skin color slur during an on-field altercation with QPR's Anton Ferdinand. 

In the case of the Ulsan players, 토토사이트 the federation's punishment committee took into account that the incident took place on social media, not on the field, and that there was no intentional racism. Is this true? In Europe, racism on social media is more common, and while it has rarely resulted in disciplinary action, it is not unheard of.

During the John Terry-Anton Ferdinand debacle in 2011, United's Rio Ferdinand, Anton's older brother, was criticized for using the word "chocolate ice" to refer to Chelsea defender Ashley Cole, who was defending his teammate Terry, which was another racist remark. It was a rare instance of a black man being racist towards a fellow black man. Ferdinand, who was criticizing racism, was fined a hefty £45,000 (approximately $73 million) for his racist remarks. It's doubtful that the Ulsan players will get off any easier than Ferdinand.