Chinese team bans fans over photos of S. Korean military dictator Chun Doo-hwan
Hong Kong Free Press
Chinese football team Shandong Taishan apologised to South Korea’s Gwangju FC on Friday after fans held up photos of a hated military strongman at an Asian Champions League match.
An unknown number of home fans on Tuesday displayed images of Chun Doo-hwan, the autocratic former South Korean president, during the game against visiting Gwangju.
Chun is known as the “Butcher of Gwangju” for brutally suppressing an uprising in the city in 1980.
Shandong said in a statement it was “deeply shocked by the unauthorised behaviour of individual fans in the stands during the match that night”.
The offending supporters are now banned from matches for life and have been dealt with by police “in accordance with the law”, the club said, without providing further details on the punishment.
It did not say how many fans were banned.
“We apologise for the harm caused to Gwangju FC due to the inappropriate behaviour of individual fans,” the Chinese Super League side said.
Shandong added that it would take legal action against the fans involved if the incident resulted in fines for the club.
Shandong defeated Gwangju 3-1 in Asia’s top club competition.
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