The Korea Football Association (KFA) announced on its official website on Monday that Hwang Ui-jo, the country's international striker who formerly played for Nottingham Forest, has been banned for 20 years, effective immediately, after being found guilty in February of illegally filming a sex tape.

According to the Korea Football Association (KFA)'s official statement, the decision was based on Article 2 of the KFA's Ethics and Disciplinary Committee's National Team Management Code and Article 3 of the Korea Sports Council's National Team Player Selection and Management Code.

The code stipulates that "persons sentenced to a fixed-term imprisonment or above for sexual offenses, with a suspended sentence of less than 20 years, shall not be selected for the national team," and "such persons shall not be registered as players, coaches, referees, or athlete management officials."

Based on the above regulations, Hwang Ui-jo has effectively been issued a quasi-lifetime ban by the Korea Football Association (KFA), preventing him from playing, coaching, or refereeing in South Korea.

However, since his overseas activities are not under the KFA's jurisdiction, Hwang Ui-jo, who currently plays for Alanyaspor, is not affected for the time being.

The KFA stated, "According to FIFA registration regulations, he is affiliated with an overseas league (the Turkish Süper Lig), not the KFA. Therefore, it is impossible to impose disciplinary measures on players who are not registered with the association."

"However, it must be emphasized that if Hwang Ui-jo attempts to register as a coach or player with a team affiliated with the association in the future, his qualifications will be revoked according to regulations." He will not be able to register as a player or coach, nor be called up to the national team."

The Incident

In 2023, Hwang Ui-jo was reportedly threatened and had a private video leaked. After police tracked down the identity of the person who distributed the video, they arrested a female suspect on November 16 of the same year.

According to Korean media reports at the time, the woman was Hwang Ui-jo's sister-in-law, who had previously worked with him overseas and acted as his manager.

According to multiple media reports, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's Cyber Crime Investigation Team arrested Hwang Ui-jo's sister-in-law on November 16, alleging that she had violated the law by revealing Hwang's private life and threatening him.

Reports indicate that Hwang Ui-jo's sister-in-law claimed to be his ex-girlfriend on social media in June and accused him of having cheated on several women during their relationship and led a chaotic private life, retaliated by distributing intimate photos and videos of Hwang Ui-jo.

It is understood that Hwang Ui-jo's sister-in-law often accompanied him when he traveled abroad for work. Meanwhile, the woman in the leaked video of Hwang Ui-jo stated on November 21st that she had indeed been in a relationship with Hwang Ui-jo, but had not consented to the filming and repeatedly asked him to delete it. She intends to sue the woman who leaked the video and Hwang Ui-jo, who illegally filmed it.

Ultimately, Hwang Ui-jo's sister-in-law was convicted of sexual offenses and intimidation and sentenced to three years in prison.

Hwang Ui-jo was formally indicted for allegedly filming sex tapes of two female victims without their consent four times between June and September 2022.

In February 2025, Hwang Ui-Jo pleaded guilty and expressed regret, but was still sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for two years, after being found guilty on one charge and acquitted on the other.

His lawyer subsequently appealed, but the appeal was rejected by the Seoul District Court on the 4th of this month, upholding the original verdict.

About Hwang Ui-Jo

Hwang Ui-jo, 33, was born on August 28, 1992, in Seongnam City, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. He is 1.84 meters tall and primarily plays as a center forward, but can also play as a left winger or right winger.

Hwang Ui-ho played for Seongnam FC and Gamba Osaka in his early years. He rose to prominence with his outstanding performances for Bordeaux from 2017 to the summer of 2022.

In August 2022, Hwang Ui-jo joined Nottingham Forest for £3 million.

However, apart from appearances in pre-season friendly matches, Hwang Ui-jo never played in a competitive match for the Premier League club.

Over the next two years, Hwang Ui-jo was loaned-out to Olympiacos and Norwich City.

In February 2024, Hwang Ui-jo joined Alanyaspor on-loan with an option to buy, and his ownership was officially bought out that summer.

Since joining Alanyaspor, Hwang Ui-jo has made 46 appearances for the Turkish Süper Lig club in all competitions, scoring 8 goals and providing 5 assists.

Internationally, Hwang Ui-jo has been a member of the South Korean national team since 2015.

Until November 2023, when his sexual misconduct scandal was exposed and he was under investigation, Hwang Ui-jo had played 62 times for the Taegeuk Warriors in all competitions, scoring 19 goals and providing 4 assists, and was part of the 2018 Asian Games winning team.