It has been confirmed that a man in his 40s who approached national soccer team captain Son Heung Min and demanded money had contacted JTBC’s 'Crime Chief' about a month ago. When the production team requested evidence, he cut off contact and disappeared.

'Crime Chief' reported on May 16 that the man had made the tip-off on the 21st of last month. Although he did not mention Son Heung Min by name, he described the person as a “current Korean national team player in Europe,” adding comments like, “It’s ridiculous what this national team player is doing,” and “I’m tipping this off so they both get screwed.”

In a call with the production team, the man said, “I happened to find a certain file on my girlfriend’s phone,” claiming it contained screenshots showing large sums of money exchanged, a handwritten confidentiality agreement, and a document signed with thumbprints by both parties. He added, “She told me she had an abortion and wrote the agreement to keep it a secret. The incident happened last June.”

He continued, “Because of the confidentiality agreement, I spoke with (Son Heung Min’s) agency. The amount of breaching confidentially was set at 3 billion KRW (approx. 2.2 million USD) with no expiration date,” and claimed, “I asked for the agreement to be revised, but they refused, and I ended up breaking up with my girlfriend over it. I was worried I might be negatively affected, too, if it wasn’t changed. I wasn’t simply asking for money.”

However, it is being pointed out that it’s difficult to make sense of a third party, not directly involved, demanding changes to the agreement and then making a report out of revenge after being refused.

The man claimed he had evidence, such as KakaoTalk messages and medical records, but when the production team asked for them, he stopped responding and vanished.

Son Heung Min’s side stated, “Since the matter was settled last June, there’s been no further contact from the woman involved,” adding, “However, from early March, a man began making threats.”

According to Son Heung Min’s side, the man claimed, “My girlfriend was pregnant with Son Heung Min’s child,” and threatened to go to the media with this claim while demanding 70 million KRW (approx. 50,000 USD).

Son Heung Min’s manager endured the threats for several months before finally telling Son. Son Heung Min reportedly responded, “Let’s stop suffering from these false claims and take strong action,” which led to legal action being taken.

It is reported that Son Heung Min never paid the man, who is known to have a previous record of similar crimes.

Son Heung Min’s side acknowledged that he had dated the woman in the past but denied any allegations of pressuring her into an abortion or related accusations.

They explained that they tried to talk with the woman to clarify the facts, but she refused and demanded 300 million KRW (approx. 214,000 USD), and due to concerns that the spreading of false claims could severely affect Son Heung Min’s performance, they had no choice but to respond to the extortion attempt.

Meanwhile, the police are currently investigating both the man and the woman on charges of attempted extortion and extortion, and have applied for arrest warrants.

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