Korean soccer star Park Ji-sung has asked news media to refrain from reporting on his love life.

Local news outlets speculated that the 31-year-old might be dating actress Bae Doo-na, 33, while reporting that he was spotted meeting Bae in London.

“It is true that I met Bae, but we get along like a sister and brother. I phoned her after the reports came out that we had dated. I felt so sorry for her over fans’ disturbing comments on the reports,” the footballer told Korean reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday.

“Please do not report my dating life, so that I can find someone. (With reporting like this) even if I had a girlfriend, she would run away,” he said. 

Park moved to Queens Park Rangers, an English Premier League club, from Manchester United, on July 9. He is in the Malaysian capital on QPR’s Asia tour.

“(If people report) in this way, I could be romantically linked with all female celebrities I know, and I would be left with no option but to remain single,” he said.

Turning to his move to QPR, he said that it takes ceaseless efforts to start as a key player, even though QPR is a smaller team than United.

“Though I came from Manchester United, I am now one of the QPR squad. To start in a match, I have to show strong ability,” he said.

“I have never thought that the captaincy of QPR has to go to me. If I am given the captaincy, I will be happy to accept it, and will try to do better, but I won’t regret it if I am not.”

By Chun Sung-woo (swchun@heraldcorp.com)