Football: Gender row rocks S. Korea women's league
A senior KWFF official said that Park was a fully registered league player
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea's women's football league has been rocked by a gender testing row that has dragged in the state human rights commission and triggered the resignation of one team coach.
The dispute has its roots in a recent request by coaches of the six of the seven K-League teams that the star striker of the Seoul City club, Park Eun-Seon, be required to undergo a gender test.
They also asked that the Korea Women's Football Federation (KWFF) bar Park from playing until her gender is verified.
Park was the league's leading goalscorer in the 2013 season and the Seoul City management held a press conference Thursday, denouncing the request and accusing the other clubs of trying to destroy their player's career.
"Demanding a gender examination on a person is a serious human rights violation that insults someone's character," the club said, demanding an immediate apology and threatening legal action.
A spokeswoman for the National Human Rights Commission of Korea told AFP they had received a petition requesting an investigation into whether Park's rights had been violated.
A senior KWFF official told AFP on Friday that Park was a fully registered league player and that there would be "no test to verify her gender."
On Thursday, one of the six coaches who had sent the original request to the KWFF, expressed regret and said he was resigning, although he insisted that the coaches' motives had been misunderstood.
"We were only questioning why Park hadn't been on the national team even though she's the best female player," said Lee Sung-Gyun, coach of the Suwon FMC club.
Park's gender has been questioned before, most recently before the 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup, when host nation China raised the issue.
Park was not selected for the national squad for the tournament.
Writing on her Facebook page, Park said she felt "humiliated" by the row and revealed that she had undergone several gender tests in the past.
"I've worked so hard to get to this point, and I will not give up so easily," she wrote.
"I know what these people are trying to do, and I won't fall down," she added.
The most high-profile case of sporting gender tests in recent years was that of South Africa's Caster Semenya following her victory in the women's 800m at the 2009 World Athletics Championships.
