Park Ji-sung, co-head of the K-Football Innovation Committee, speaks during a meeting held at Korea Football Center in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, Wednesday. Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

The controversy surrounding the Korean Football Association (KFA) and the bribery of foreign referees appears likely to fade into history, unless additional damaging details emerge in the weeks and months ahead.

Earlier this summer, a leaked government audit revealed that officials who came to Korea in 2010 and 2011 to oversee qualification games for the 2012 London Olympics and the 2014 World Cup were provided with "sexual entertainment" by the KFA. The audit said payments were made to various establishments using a corporate credit card.

Earlier this week, the National Police Agency said too much time had passed for further action to be taken. “It appears that the statute of limitations has expired for the charge of facilitating prostitution,” it told reporters in a briefing.

Even if there were no immediate legal consequences, there was still the possibility that soccer’s governing bodies would become involved in the scandal. So far, that does not appear to be happening.

The Korea Times has repeatedly asked FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, to comment on the situation. There has been no official response, but behind the scenes there is a sense in Zurich that the matter should be handled by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), since the AFC organized the matches in question. The Kuala Lumpur-based body has also not commented, and there are few signs that this will change.

At present, international media interest is waning in the absence of any new developments, and the story is likely to recede further unless something new emerges. That leaves the case largely dependent on whether Korean police uncover anything else, because any further action would have to come from foreign organizations other than FIFA and the AFC.

There have been calls in Oman for action, since one of the games allegedly affected involved its national team, but nothing has happened so far. The Japan Football Association has also said it will investigate after reports that Japanese referees received favors, but that, too, remains uncertain.

If Korean authorities cannot investigate and soccer authorities will not, then it appears that this turbulent chapter in Korean soccer in the summer of 2026 is close to being closed.

The scandal is still expected to affect efforts to reform the KFA. Soccer fans and media have made clear that substantial change is needed, and that may make the work of Park Ji-sung easier. The former Manchester United star leads the committee tasked with reforming the game and the KFA, beginning with expanding the number of people eligible to vote in the next presidential election.

Park wants the election completed by the end of the year. “We expect the electorate to be close to 20,000. It will not be easy to hold the election using only the methods we have used so far,” he said. “Whether electronic voting or online voting, a new system must be introduced.”

While the KFA may be wary of sweeping change, the organization may soon be breathing a sigh of relief over the bribery scandal.