Son breaks silence on Asian Cup altercation, calls on fans to forgive Lee

Son Heung-min, left, and Lee Kang-in pose together in a photo posted on Son's official Instagram account on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

Tottenham Hotspur and Korean national team captain Son Heung-min broke his silence on the Asian Cup altercation between him and Paris Saint-Germain’s Lee Kang-in on Wednesday, calling on fans to accept that the younger player has apologized and forgive him.

Everything Lee Kang-in said in latest Asian Cup apology

“Hello, this is Son Heung-min,” Son wrote in a post on his personal Instagram account. “I am going to talk about something a little heavy and difficult today. Kang-in sincerely reflected on his behavior and apologized to every national team member, including me.

“I also made a lot of mistakes when I was young and exhibited bad behavior, and I think am where I am now thanks to the harsh advice and guidance of good senior players.

“As a national team member and also as a captain, we will all take help [Lee], so that he doesn’t do anything wrong like this again and becomes a better person and player.

“I also don't think that my actions were right, and I deserve to be criticized for that. But since I think that doing something undesirable is one of a captain's duties, I will also take actions for the team even if it means I get into that [sort of] situation.

“But I will work to lead the team more wisely from now on.

“Kang-in has been having a very tough time since the incident. Please forgive him one time with a generous heart. I beg you as national team captain.”

The post was accompanied by an image of Son and Lee smiling together. Son’s finger is bandaged in the photo, suggesting that Lee visited the Spurs captain in London at some point after the Asian Cup.

Son and Lee were involved in an altercation at the Asian Cup after Lee and a group of younger players left dinner to go and play table tennis. Son asked them to return to the team dinner and the incident reportedly turned physical.

While both Son and Lee have acknowledged that a dispute took place, nobody that was in the room has gone on the record to confirm the details of the physical altercation.

Since reports of the incident first broke last week, Lee has faced a barrage of loud criticism from some fans, a slew of offensive posts and even calls to boycott brands that have sponsorship deals with him.

BY JIM BULLEY AND PAIK JI-HWAN [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]