Son Heung-min Military Service Mockery Prompts KFA Concern and Reported Media Boycott

A controversy over remarks mocking Son Heung-min’s military service status has widened from a training-ground video into a dispute over media conduct around the South Korea national football team. The issue centers on audio captured during an open training session in Mexico, followed by Son declining a mixed-zone interview and reports that the team had effectively begun a media boycott.

The South Korea captain received military service benefits after winning gold at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games and completed three weeks of basic military training, according to Korean reports summarizing the background to the remarks. The latest coverage has focused less on his military record itself than on whether media personnel crossed a professional boundary during national-team access.¹

Military Service Mockery During Open Training

The dispute began with a JTBC YouTube video from South Korea’s open training session on June 7 at the Chivas Verde Valle training ground in Guadalajara, Mexico. Weekly Chosun reported that the video captured inappropriate on-site audio referring to players with a crude phrase about not having completed military service.²

The remark drew attention because it was heard while Son was training. Reports characterized the audio as a mocking comment linked to his military-service exemption status, which has long been publicly known because of South Korea’s sports-related military benefits system. The sources provided do not identify the individual who made the remark.

JTBC later said the muted portion of the video was not the voice of its own reporting staff. In one statement cited by Korean outlets, JTBC said, “The muted part of the video was not the voice of JTBC reporters.”² Another report summarized JTBC’s position as saying the voice in the video was not from JTBC staff.³

The incident quickly moved beyond the original video because it touched on two sensitive areas at once: respect for national-team players during official media access, and public discussion of athletes who receive military service benefits through international competition results. No source material states that Son publicly commented on the remark.

KFA Calls for Respect and Player Protection

The Korea Football Association issued a formal position on June 15 under the title “A request regarding media activities related to the Republic of Korea national football team,” Money Today reported. The KFA expressed regret over inappropriate remarks by some media personnel and asked outlets and reporters to show consideration and responsibility toward the national team and its players.⁴

Asia Economy reported that the KFA said the controversy had caused serious damage inside the squad. In the association’s wording, “This matter brought great shock and disappointment to the players.” The KFA also stressed that “respect and protection for the players must come first.”⁵

The association did not reject media coverage in general. Its position, as reported, acknowledged the importance of reporting activity but said field coverage should be based on mutual respect and trust. It also said it would work to create a healthy reporting environment, while asking media organizations to handle national-team access responsibly.⁴

That distinction is important to the current status of the dispute. The KFA’s statement, as described in the source material, focused on conduct and player protection rather than announcing formal sanctions or naming an individual outlet or reporter responsible for the original audio. The available sources also do not say that the KFA imposed disciplinary measures on Son or other players over media availability.

Reported Son Heung-min Boycott Reaches Foreign Media

The phrase “Son Heung-min boycott” has been used around the issue because of what followed the training-video controversy. Money Today reported that Son declined domestic reporters’ mixed-zone interview requests after South Korea’s June 12 win over Czech Republic. The report also noted that participation in mixed-zone interviews depends on the individual player and is not subject to KFA punishment.³

Kyunghyang Shinmun later reported, citing The Athletic, that the South Korea national team had effectively launched a media boycott in response to inappropriate remarks by some members of the press. The report said other players also did not have media contact after the Czech Republic match.¹

Dailian reported on June 18 that foreign media had also taken note of the controversy over remarks mocking Son’s military-service benefit. It said The Athletic reported on June 17 that South Korea had effectively begun a media boycott and added that the KFA did not immediately respond to whether the boycott would continue.⁶

The available source material does not establish a formal team-wide boycott declaration by players or the KFA. It supports a narrower picture: Son declined mixed-zone interviews after the Czech Republic match, other players were reported as having avoided media contact, and foreign coverage described the situation as an effective boycott. That makes the episode a media-access dispute as much as a controversy over the original remark.

For now, the confirmed facts point to an escalating dispute that began with a June 7 training video, drew a June 15 KFA statement, and expanded through June 17 and June 18 reports about media access and international attention. The central unresolved question is not Son’s military status, which the reports describe through his Asian Games gold medal and completed basic training, but whether the media environment around the national team can be reset after the KFA’s call for respect and player protection.

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Cloi Lee

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