Ki celebration 'prompted by Scottish abuse'
DOHA: South Korea midfielder Ki Sung-Yueng's controversial 'monkey' celebration against Japan was a response to racist abuse from Scottish football fans, a team official said on Thursday.
The 21-year-old Celtic midfielder put the Koreans 1-0 up from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute of Tuesday's semifinal, before allegedly pulling a monkey face and scratching his cheek in front of a pitch-side camera.
His celebration caused offence in sections of the Japanese media, who said the act was a racial slur on their country, but South Korea media officer Park Il-Ki said it was a reference to monkey chants from Scottish fans.
"It was about the unsporting treatment he got in the Scottish league, especially in away games," Park said.
"People made noises and monkey sounds in Scotland when he played away games. That was something that he wanted to show people from all over the world.
"They call him a monkey, as an Asian, but he wanted to show how strong Asian footballers are, so that was the main intention."
Park added: "He told me that, when he scored at the Asian Cup, he wanted to do that kind of celebration.
"The match against Japan was the first time he had scored a goal at the tournament. There was no other reason for it. He planned it before the tournament."
Ki was the target of racist abuse from a minority of home fans during Celtic's 3-0 win at St Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League in October.
A statement on the St Johnstone website published in November said: "It has been brought to the club's attention that an extremely small minority of our support may have been responsible for making racist noises towards certain Celtic players during Saturday's game.
"St Johnstone FC will conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations."
St Johnstone are yet to announce the results of their investigation.
Earlier, Asian Cup tournament director Tokuaki Suzuki said the matter would not b! e taken any further.
" FIFA hasn't contacted the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) regarding this celebration," said Suzuki, who is Japanese.
"The AFC have not taken any kind of decision, but that doesn't mean there couldn't have been some kind of impact on people from some countries.
"We won't take any legal action."
Suzuki also revealed that there had been discussions between the Japanese Football Association (JFA) and the Korean Football Association (KFA) on the matter.
"I heard that they had discussed it and clarified things," he said.
Ki's South Korea team-mate Lee Jung-Soo said he had not been aware that the central midfielder was planning such a celebration.
"Regarding Ki Sung-Yueng's celebration against Japan, I didn't have a chance to speak to him in detail and I don't really know what he is reported to have done," said Lee.
Japan won the game 3-0 on penalties, after it finished 2-2 at the end of extra time.
The Blue Samurai will tackle Australia in Saturday's final, with South Korea set to meet Uzbekistan in Friday's third-place play-off, when a place at the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia will be at stake.
The 21-year-old Celtic midfielder put the Koreans 1-0 up from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute of Tuesday's semifinal, before allegedly pulling a monkey face and scratching his cheek in front of a pitch-side camera.
His celebration caused offence in sections of the Japanese media, who said the act was a racial slur on their country, but South Korea media officer Park Il-Ki said it was a reference to monkey chants from Scottish fans.
"It was about the unsporting treatment he got in the Scottish league, especially in away games," Park said.
"People made noises and monkey sounds in Scotland when he played away games. That was something that he wanted to show people from all over the world.
"They call him a monkey, as an Asian, but he wanted to show how strong Asian footballers are, so that was the main intention."
Park added: "He told me that, when he scored at the Asian Cup, he wanted to do that kind of celebration.
"The match against Japan was the first time he had scored a goal at the tournament. There was no other reason for it. He planned it before the tournament."
Ki was the target of racist abuse from a minority of home fans during Celtic's 3-0 win at St Johnstone in the Scottish Premier League in October.
A statement on the St Johnstone website published in November said: "It has been brought to the club's attention that an extremely small minority of our support may have been responsible for making racist noises towards certain Celtic players during Saturday's game.
"St Johnstone FC will conduct a thorough investigation into these allegations."
St Johnstone are yet to announce the results of their investigation.
Earlier, Asian Cup tournament director Tokuaki Suzuki said the matter would not b! e taken any further.
" FIFA hasn't contacted the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) regarding this celebration," said Suzuki, who is Japanese.
"The AFC have not taken any kind of decision, but that doesn't mean there couldn't have been some kind of impact on people from some countries.
"We won't take any legal action."
Suzuki also revealed that there had been discussions between the Japanese Football Association (JFA) and the Korean Football Association (KFA) on the matter.
"I heard that they had discussed it and clarified things," he said.
Ki's South Korea team-mate Lee Jung-Soo said he had not been aware that the central midfielder was planning such a celebration.
"Regarding Ki Sung-Yueng's celebration against Japan, I didn't have a chance to speak to him in detail and I don't really know what he is reported to have done," said Lee.
Japan won the game 3-0 on penalties, after it finished 2-2 at the end of extra time.
The Blue Samurai will tackle Australia in Saturday's final, with South Korea set to meet Uzbekistan in Friday's third-place play-off, when a place at the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia will be at stake.
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