Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-yueng gets ready to board a plane back to his club at the Incheon International Airport, Tuesday. / Yonhap



By Jung Min-ho

What started as simple comments on his Facebook page has quickly turned into a question as to whether Swansea City midfielder Ki Sung-yueng deserves a spot in Korea's Brazil World Cup squad next year.

Perhaps the 24-year-old's mistake was failing to exercise his right to express his opinion only to his close friends and fans; and his wrong presumption that the comments on his "secret" Facebook account would really remain a secret.

Ki, who recently married actress Han Hye-jin, has been hit by a torrent of criticism for the comments aimed at former national team manager Choi Kang-hee.

Sports writer Kim Hyun-hoe first revealed Thursday in his column, "SNS controversies; very serious problems," that Ki had another Facebook account other than the one he recently deleted.

According to the column, Ki said on his Facebook wall that "Thank you for including me in the team, even though I'm playing in some (second division) national league," following Choi's comment last year that Scottish football teams are "all like national league players except for Celtic." Ki played for Celtic at that time but still took the offense.

After Korea's World Cup qualifier win against Kuwait in February last year, Ki also said, "I was shocked that I was left off for the first half, but I'm sure now everyone knows that the team needs players from overseas leagues."

"Choi shouldn't have touched us. I hope he does not show his arrogance anymore. Otherwise, he might get hurt."

The reactions have been less than welcoming.

On the heels of the disclosure, many fans criticized Ki's comments, questioning his defiant attitude that might hurt the team chemistry, if he joins the squad.

On Friday, Ki apologized over the controversy in a statement.

"Everything is my fault. The (secret) Facebook account was used privately with close friends; it was not for the public. Nonetheless, things that were said were not appropriate as a national football team member," Ki said.

"I'm sorry for manager Choi who must have been hurt by my comments. I will focus more on my playing to redeem myself."