Former national team striker Kim Dong-hyun was arrested on match-fixing charges Wednesday, accused of linking other players to gambling brokers.

Prosecutors believe Kim, 27, who now plays with Sangju Sangmu, received bribes from brokers and transferred the money to other suspected players. 

With Kim’s arrest, six players from the K-League have been arrested on charges of receiving bribes and attempting to fix their games. Former K-League player Jeong Jong-kwan, who was allegedly linked with the suspects, was found dead Monday in an apparent suicide.

The Changwon District Prosecutors revealed last week that the highest level of professional sport is a center for match-fixing, after they arrested two gambling brokers and two active K-League players ― a midfielder from Daejeon Citizen and a Gwangju FC goalkeeper.

The goalie is suspected of receiving 100 million won, while the midfielder is suspected of receiving 120 million won from the two brokers, who allegedly made large sums of money by betting on the game through lotteries operated by Sports Toto. Last week, Kim was also questioned by the investigators, but he denied any wrongdoing.

The prosecutors, however, believe that the former national player introduced the two suspects to the gamblers, and in return received tens of millions of won. Kim is currently serving his military duty with Sangmu, a military football club which participates in the K-League.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)

Player cut for betting on own team’s game

A first-division professional football club in Korea on Thursday cut a player for betting on one of his team’s own games.

The Pohang Steelers in the K-League said they have terminated a contract with midfielder Kim Jung-kyum after he wagered on a Steelers’ match two months ago. The move comes amid a widening match fixing scandal involving players from the country’s top football league. Five players, including four from Daejeon Citizen, have been arrested on charges of accepting money from gambling brokers and helping their teams lose by deliberately making mistakes in games. 

(Yonhap News)