Senior police official who went to conduct on-site checks faces controversy over watching a national team soccer match for free with family

[Financial News] A senior police official who visited the site of a national team soccer match to check on operations and encourage staff is suspected of having used free invitation tickets to let family members watch the game. The National Police Agency has launched a fact-finding investigation.
According to police and other sources on the 15th, the National Police Agency is looking into the circumstances surrounding Superintendent General A of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, who reportedly used free invitation tickets to admit two family members, including his wife and daughter, to the men’s national team A-match between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Yongin Mireu Stadium on the 6th.
Superintendent General A had been in charge of departments dealing with rallies, protests and events involving large crowds across the province. After a strategy meeting on the morning of the match, he reportedly asked a staff member responsible, “I might go to the stadium with my family this evening. How many seats are left, and would it be possible to get tickets, including by buying them?”
After work, Superintendent General A had dinner with his wife and daughter, who had come to the official residence for a family occasion, and went with them to the stadium at around 7:40 p.m. to encourage staff working at the site and check on the situation. A subordinate there then handed him two free invitation tickets that had been secured in advance for purposes including deploying additional personnel, and A’s family used them to enter the stadium.
The police chief of the jurisdiction was responsible for on-site command that day. A, who was not assigned to remain on site, stayed at the on-site command post (CP) during the first half and monitored the spectators’ entry with the chief and others. In the second half, he moved to empty seats near the section where his family was sitting and watched the match with them. They all went home together after the game, according to reports.
Tickets for the match were priced from 50,000 to 180,000 won. Attendance was only around 24,000, about 64% of the stadium’s 37,000 seats, meaning tickets could readily have been purchased at the venue. The family reportedly sat in the general seating area, not in VIP seats or the like.
The issue is that a senior official, whose role was to check on and encourage frontline staff, asked a subordinate about securing tickets for personal use, effectively putting pressure on the employee, and did not refuse tickets obtained in connection with official duties, instead using them for his family.
Responding to criticism that his conduct was inappropriate, Superintendent General A bowed his head and said, “My family came to visit for a family occasion, but it was itself a poor decision to have them come along, as it were, when I was heading to the site after work to encourage the staff there and check on their working conditions.”
He added, “I should have bought tickets at the venue myself, but I failed to think it through carefully. I am deeply ashamed and sorry for acting inappropriately as a public official, and I am reflecting on it seriously.” The National Police Agency had already learned of the matter through reports up the chain of command and plans to take appropriate action after confirming exactly how the invitation tickets were obtained and passed on.



[email protected] Kim Hee-sun Reporter