Pro Korean football team Daejeon Citizen Football Club is being condemned for axing a foreign football player one day after being recruited on the grounds that he was HIV positive.

On July 12, Daejeon Citizen FC issued a press statement announcing the recruitment of a new Brazilian player. This was widely reported by Korean media, citing his merits and expected performance. But on July 13, just one day after the recruitment announcement, Daejeon Citizen released another statement to say it had cancelled the contract due to the player allegedly being HIV positive.

Beside the obvious breach of human rights, the press release mentions him being “AIDS positive” — highlighting the lack of understanding or distinction between HIV and AIDS.

The HIV/AIDS Activists Network Korea, an umbrella group representing the interests of several HIV/AIDS rights and gay rights NGOs, has condemned Daejeon Citizen FC for outing his status, infringing his human rights, and linking performance to HIV status.

Some media belatedly revised their articles to delete the HIV content and blur his face, but the damage was done, and his personal information, alleged HIV status, and photos were plastered all over the Korean internet.

Many media simply said he had AIDS.

[Note: I will not post his picture, name or links to articles outing him.]

The HIV/AIDS Activists Network Korea said, “The football player was recruited because he is good at football, regardless of whether he has HIV or not. Even if he knew about the HIV infection [he got mandatory blood test in Korea], there was no reason to disclose it. This is because having HIV is unrelated to playing football”.

The group also condemned the media for not following press guidelines about reporting on disease and virus that can promote fear and stigma as stipulated by the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, as well as not knowing the difference between HIV and AIDS. The NGO umbrella group said many media effectively contributed to the spread of fear by reporting his status, and that they were thus “accomplices” in the incident.

The fact that both the football club and the media had no qualms in reporting the football player’s alleged HIV status should come as no surprise: South Korea remains a deeply homophobic country, and also continues to severely discriminate and stygmatise against people with HIV.

The government-run Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention also makes little effort in distinguishing between HIV and AIDS, lumping the two into one category, thus further perpetuating the idea that AIDS will bring disaster to the country, an argument often put forward by the country’s “Christian” lobby group.

Daejeon Citizen FC is owned by Daejeon Government, and is chaired by the Mayor of Daejeon.