The Ulsan Hyundai football team has issued an apology over controversial remarks its players made in a social media post. 

The K League 1 club expressed deep apologies via social media on Monday, saying it will swiftly convene a meeting of its disciplinary committee and take measures to prevent the recurrence of similar happenings. 

Controversy erupted after fans became angry over posts uploaded on the Instagram of the club’s defender, Lee Myung-jae last Sunday. 

In referring to Lee, some of his fellow players and even the team manager mentioned Sasalak Haiprakhon, who was the defender for the Thai national team and used to play for the Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in 2021. 

Fans criticized the mention of the Thai player’s name, saying it was racist in nature as it apparently was made to tease Lee about his dark complexion. 

The league administration said that it is taking the issue seriously and instructed Ulsan Hyundai to submit an incident report by Wednesday, with a decision on a disciplinary committee meeting to be made after receiving the report.