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South Korea Institutes Lie-Detector Tests For Its Soccer Players

Hirofumi Moritasu of Sydney FC and Park Jong-Jin of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.
Chung Sung-Jun
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Hirofumi Moritasu of Sydney FC and Park Jong-Jin of Suwon Samsung Bluewings.

South Korea announced today that in effort to curb match-fixing in their professional soccer league it was introducing major reforms: First, reports the BBC, any player suspected of cheating will be required to take a lie detector test. Second, they are raising the minimum wage from $11,350 to $22,700 in order to curb temptation. Third, they are creating a first-tier league and second-tier league. Teams that are found to be cheating will be relegated to the second-tier.

The moves come after the K-League found itself embroiled in a match-fixing scandal. The AFP reports that last week, South Korean prosecutors charged 46 current and former soccer players with match-fixing. The prosecutors said at least 15 matches and six teams were involved in rigged games.

The AFP adds:

They said many players had been forced repeatedly to throw games after the gangs threatened to report their involvement in the scam to authorities.

At least 15 matches involving six teams were found to have been rigged last year, while players received from three million won to 31 million won from brokers.

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.