South Korean police arrest two people accused of blackmailing Tottenham's Son Heung-min
South Korean police have arrested two people over the alleged blackmail of Tottenham Hotspur captain and soccer superstar Son Heung-min, according to South Korean's Yonhap news agency, after reports a woman threatened him with a pregnancy claim.
Son, 32, had filed a police complaint against a woman and a man for blackmail and threatening to spread 'false information,' his agency, Son & Football Limited, said on Thursday.
'We will take strong legal action without leniency to punish those who have made threats of blackmail with obvious false information,' the agency said in a statement on its website.
The Gangnam Police Station in southern Seoul said it was investigating a woman in her 20s and a man in his 40s on charges of attempted extortion after receiving Son's complaint last week, according to Yonhap.
The woman allegedly approached Son last June, claiming she was pregnant with his child and demanded money in exchange for her silence, Yonhap reported, citing police. She reportedly sent Son an ultrasound image and received 300 million Korean Won ($215,180), the news agency said.
The man, believed to be an acquaintance of the woman, also allegedly tried to blackmail Son in March, demanding 70 million Korean Won ($50,200), Yonhap reported. He did not reportedly receive any money, Yonhap said.
CNN has reached out to the Gangnam Police Station.
Police arrested the woman Wednesday evening local time for blackmail and the man for an attempted blackmail. Authorities raided the two individuals' homes and secured their phones for further investigation, according to Yonhap.
'Son Heung Min is an obvious victim of this incident,' the soccer star's agency said.
'We apologize once again for worrying everyone supporting Son Heung-min with such a scandalous issue,' the agency wrote.
Son is hugely popular in his home country, South Korea, and has become known as one of the greatest Asian soccer players of all time.
Son started playing football as a child in Chuncheon, located about 46 miles northeast of Seoul, under his father's supervision. In 2009, he was chosen to join a prestigious youth training academy in Germany, where he eventually made his professional debut at the age of 18.
He joined Tottenham from Bayer Leverkusen in August 2015 and has since been breaking records set by his role models Park Ji-sung, the first Korean to play in the Premier League and only Asian player to win the men's Champions League, and Cha Bum-kun, who played over 300 matches in the Bundesliga for Eintracht Frankfurt and Leverkusen from 1979 to 1989.
Son has broken records for the most goals scored by a Korean player in a season in a European league. He also became the first Asian footballer to win the Premier League's Golden Boot with 23 goals in the season – level with Liverpool's Mohamed Salah in 2022.
On Sunday, Son returned to play against Crystal Palace after being out for a month with a foot injury. Spurs fans will hope he'll feature in the Europa League final later this month against Manchester United, with Tottenham looking to win its first trophy since 2008.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
South Korean woman fined for pulling down male colleague's trousers
A South Korean court has fined a woman for sexual misconduct after she pulled down a colleague's trousers - and his underwear, by accident - in front of their colleagues, local media reported. On top of the 2.8 million won ($2,100; £1,500) fine, the woman in her 50s has also been ordered to complete eight hours of sexual violence prevention education. The incident reportedly happened last October at a restaurant kitchen in Gangwon province in the north-east. The Chuncheon District Court's ruling on Saturday rejected the woman's claim that she had intended it to be a prank on her colleague, who is in his 20s. But the court said it was taking into account the fact that she had no prior criminal record and had shown remorse. She had knelt down to apologise to the man and his parents, the judge said. "It seems like they punished a simple prank too harshly," says one comment under the Chosun Daily's report of the case. But another reader argues, "The fine is not excessive at all. Why are you playing this kind of prank? Does this look like a prank to you?" Pulling down someone's trousers, which could include underwear - "pantsing" or "debagging" as it's known - is often seen as a common practical joke despite criticism that it is a form of bullying. Pantsing has long been used as a comic routine on variety shows and reality TV in South Korea. But it has got people in trouble as well. In 2019, South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Lim Hyo-jun was suspended for a year after he pulled down a male teammate's trousers in front of other female skaters. And in 2021, a group of elementary school students in North Jeolla Province were investigated for bullying a younger boy at a playground, after the victim's mother told police that they had pulled her son's pants down.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Old photo of abandoned workplace misrepresented as S. Korea's presidential office pre-transition
"The presidential office left in complete chaos," reads part of a Korean-language X post shared on June 4, 2025. It features a screenshot of what appears to be another post sharing a panorama image of an empty office space. The post was shared shortly after South Korea's newly elected President Lee Jae-myung said the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan district "feels like a tomb" during his first press conference (archived here and here). "There's no one here. Not even staff to provide writing tools. No computers. No printers. It's absolutely ridiculous," he said. The next day, Lee's Democratic Party accused the administration of his impeached predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol of sabotaging the transition of power, describing the compound as a "crime scene" that had been "cleared out to destroy evidence" (archived link). Yoon is on trial on charges of insurrection over his botched declaration of martial law, which saw him impeached, and faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted. The same image was also shared in similar posts on South Korean online forums Ppomppu, Mimint, Wassada and "They aren't even humans," read a comment on one of the posts, while another said: "Truly, truly despicable. They should all be prosecuted." But neither Lee's office nor the Democratic Party have released any official photos of the presidential office in Yongsan before his administration moved in. Moreover, the circulating photo has been online since at least 2009. A reverse image search on Google traced the picture to a post from February 27, 2009 on a South Korean forum (archived link). The post says the photo shows the office of Seoul-based Jaty Electronics, and claims the firm abruptly relocated to Incheon during a labour dispute with employees. "The owner fled overnight," claimed the poster, who said they were an employee. The reported labour dispute was also covered by local outlet News Cham, which published a photo of the same office from a slightly different angle, credited to the Korea Metal Workers Union (archived link). Filings with South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, a securities regulator, show the company did move from its office in Seoul's Gwanak-gu district to Incheon's Namdong-gu district in the first quarter of 2009 (archived here and here).
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Old photo of abandoned workplace misrepresented as S. Korea's presidential office pre-transition
"The presidential office left in complete chaos," reads part of a Korean-language X post shared on June 4, 2025. It features a screenshot of what appears to be another post sharing a panorama image of an empty office space. The post was shared shortly after South Korea's newly elected President Lee Jae-myung said the presidential office in Seoul's Yongsan district "feels like a tomb" during his first press conference (archived here and here). "There's no one here. Not even staff to provide writing tools. No computers. No printers. It's absolutely ridiculous," he said. The next day, Lee's Democratic Party accused the administration of his impeached predecessor Yoon Suk Yeol of sabotaging the transition of power, describing the compound as a "crime scene" that had been "cleared out to destroy evidence" (archived link). Yoon is on trial on charges of insurrection over his botched declaration of martial law, which saw him impeached, and faces the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted. The same image was also shared in similar posts on South Korean online forums Ppomppu, Mimint, Wassada and "They aren't even humans," read a comment on one of the posts, while another said: "Truly, truly despicable. They should all be prosecuted." But neither Lee's office nor the Democratic Party have released any official photos of the presidential office in Yongsan before his administration moved in. Moreover, the circulating photo has been online since at least 2009. A reverse image search on Google traced the picture to a post from February 27, 2009 on a South Korean forum (archived link). The post says the photo shows the office of Seoul-based Jaty Electronics, and claims the firm abruptly relocated to Incheon during a labour dispute with employees. "The owner fled overnight," claimed the poster, who said they were an employee. The reported labour dispute was also covered by local outlet News Cham, which published a photo of the same office from a slightly different angle, credited to the Korea Metal Workers Union (archived link). Filings with South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, a securities regulator, show the company did move from its office in Seoul's Gwanak-gu district to Incheon's Namdong-gu district in the first quarter of 2009 (archived here and here).