China arrested a former member of South Korea’s national men’s soccer team on suspicion of taking bribes, raising tensions between the two nations competing on various economic fronts.
“Recently, an ROK national suspected of taking bribes has been detained by the public security authorities of Liaoning province,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a Tuesday briefing in Beijing, referring to South Korea by its formal name.
An official at the South Korean consulate in Shenyang earlier said Son Jun-ho, a South Korean midfielder playing for Shandong Taishan FC in the Chinese Super League, had been taken into custody because of alleged involvement in bribe taking. However, the official, who asked not to be identified, said the consulate was not fully aware of all the details and had not yet heard back from the Chinese side on their request for a consular visit.
South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Lim Soo-suk told reporters Tuesday that Seoul is aware of the situation and the local consulate general is providing necessary assistance.
While the arrest at this point appears solely tied to sports, it comes as expatriates in the world’s second-biggest economy are becoming worried about a potential fresh wave of probes targeting foreign companies.
Read: Foreign Executives in China Ask ‘Who’s Next?’ After Bain Probe
US consultancy Bain & Company confirmed last month that Chinese authorities questioned staff at its Shanghai office, without revealing details on the nature of the investigation.
That followed a series of actions taken against other foreign companies, including a raid in March of New York-based due diligence firm Mintz Group’s Beijing operations and the detention of an employee of Japanese drugmaker Astellas Pharma Inc. just days later.
--With assistance from Colum Murphy.
