Korea Football Association (KFA) to refuse interviews from all online media outlets in South Korea, China, and the UK due to deliberate clickbaiting and mocking of Son Heung-min..

South Korean media outlet JoongAng Ilbo reported on Wednesday that the Korea Football Association (KFA) has decided to refuse interviews from all online media outlets in South Korea, China, and the UK, effective immediately.

According to KFA's official statement, the organization is outraged by the actions of some online media outlets in these three countries that have leaked personal information, training photos, and videos of national team players through unofficial channels, and have continued to selectively quote these information to deliberately smear players, especially captain Son Heung-min, for the purpose of clickbaiting.

To curb this unhealthy trend, the KFA has decided to refuse all interview requests from online media outlets in South Korea, China, and the UK that are not recognized and authorized by FIFA, effective immediately. The KFA requests journalists' understanding, respect, and protection of the players' privacy rights.

It is worth mentioning that the KFA's policy of refusing interviews from some media outlets during the FIFA World Cup in United States, Canada and Mexico has been in effect for a week.

A week ago, the KFA also announced a refusal to accept interviews from all traditional media outlets in South Korea for the same reason.

At the time, a presenter from JtBC, the television station holding the official broadcasting rights for the World Cup in South Korea, deliberately mocked Son Heung-min's exemption from military service and maliciously criticized his performance during training camp, sparking collective discontent among the national team players.

Subsequently, several Chinese online media outlets, including Dong Qiu Di, as well as short video marketing accounts on platforms like Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo, deliberately used a clip from The Troll Football, a British X  (Twitter) account known for its satirical commentary on player performances, which featured a kick-off video of popular South Korean pop idol Jang Won-young, to ridicule Son Heung-min's current football skills as "effeminate."

This action triggered a collective backlash from fans in China, South Korea, and the UK, and even drew harsh criticism from fans of Jang Won-young's girl group IVE globally, prompting the Korea Football Association to expand its list of outlets it would refuse to interview.

South Korea will face South Africa in Guadalajara, Mexico on Thursday morning, March 25th (Asian time) in an effort to secure a place in the knockout stage of the World Cup knock-out stage.

Image source: Internet