The father of Tottenham Hotspur star Son Heung-min denied allegations of physical and verbal abuse at his South Korean football academy on Wednesday, following a lawsuit from a student's family against him and his coaches.
Son Woong-Jung, a former footballer who gained prominence in South Korea through the success of his son, runs a training academy for aspiring players.
He has also authored a best-selling memoir, sharing his football philosophy and detailing his role in shaping his son into one of the Premier League's top strikers.
South Korean media reported Wednesday on allegations of physical and verbal abuse made by one of his football academy’s students, who claimed a coach hit him with a corner flag during training, causing injuries that required weeks of treatment.
Son, 62, acknowledged the incident but denied it amounted to physical abuse.
"This incident was not corporal punishment but a mutually agreed event as part of fitness training," he said in a statement.
The player came last in a race, he said and was supposed to be "hit once" on the thigh.
The incident came to light after the young player's parents reported Son to the police in March after they noticed a bruise on their son's thigh.
They provided a photograph of the purported injury, which was published by South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
"Thinking about how frightened my son must have been makes me angry," the father said, Yonhap reported. "I decided to report the case to the police because I didn't want to see another case like this."
Son said he had tried to resolve the matter amicably but failed because the parents had demanded a settlement worth hundreds of millions of won (hundreds of thousands of dollars).
"We are currently awaiting a fair legal judgment based on facts," he said in the statement.
Son admitted his coaching methods had failed to follow new standards concerning players' human rights.
"I will self-reflect in atonement for having insisted on my method while failing to catch up with the boundaries set by the change of times and laws."
