The 27-year-old Pohang Steelers defender was dropped from Korea's senior
national team by manager Huh Jung-moo ahead of the East Asian Football
Championship, which is currently underway in Chongqing, China, with the Korea
Football Association (KFA) citing the player's "personal issues."
"I am very sorry to have caused the disruption," said Hwang, in a news
conference at a Seoul hotel Thursday. "I also apologized to the football
association and Pohang."
Hwang neither confirmed or denied the rumors, but admitted that he attempted to
visit his girlfriend, Kim Ju-yeon, a contestant in last year's Miss Korea
beauty pageant, after returning from Chongqing last week. However, Hwang talked
with her parents instead after Kim refused to meet him.
"This is a matter between me and Kim and should be solved between the two of
us," said Hwang, whose news conference lasted just three minutes after he left
without taking questions by reporters.
Kim wrote on a message board on KFA's Internet site earlier this month that she
had been dating a South Korean international football player from Pohang whose
surname is "Hwang" for eight months.
Hwang has been urging her to get an abortion while refusing to meet her in person, she said.
