Seoul [South Korea]: The K-League has slapped a fine of 100 million won (USD 81,500) on FC Seoul for "greatly" insulting and hurting female and family fans after the club filled the empty stadium with sex dolls.
Following a long hiatus caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the Korean top-flight returned to action. However, the competition is being played behind closed doors as a precautionary measure against the deadly contagion.
The incident took place on Sunday during FC Seoul's home game against Gwangju. The club used sex dolls to fill up the stands with some wearing club colours while others holding banners or placards on May 17. In total, there were 30 dolls on display with 28 being females and only two male mannequins.
"The disciplinary committee decided to take heavy disciplinary action considering the graveness of the incident, caused by the 'real doll', that has greatly insulted and hurt female and family fans and to prevent similar incidents going forward," a website quoted K-League's statement as saying.
After the incident, the club took to Instagram and issued an apology.
"We would like to apologise to our fans. We are genuinely sorry to our fans about the installation of the mannequins at our game on May 17," the club wrote.
"However, we would like to clarify that while these mannequins have been made to look and feel like real humans, they are not for sexual use — as confirmed by the manufacturer.
"We had them supplied by a company... which claimed they are clothing mannequins. We double-triple-checked that they are not for sexual use," the statement added.
