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Park Hang-seo is a South Korean football coach and former player. He was an assistant coach under Guus Hiddink on South Korea's 2002 World Cup team, then managed K League clubs including Gyeongnam FC, Jeonnam Dragons and Sangju Sangmu. As head coach of Vietnam's national team from 2017 to 2023, he won the 2018 AFF Championship and, with the under-22 team, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medal. He was a vice-president of the Korea Football Association from 2025 to 2026, and in May 2026 Thai club Kanchanaburi Power FC named him its head coach.
We have documented 1 statement by Park Hang-seo, in 1 case. Each statement below gives the quotation, its original source and a link to the full case.
Case updates
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Role at the time: Head coach of Kanchanaburi Power FC; statement issued through his management agency, DJ Management
Defended or excused
Response to this claim
Park Hang-seo's conduct after the November 1 match, beckoning Pattaya United supporters to come down and face him and gesturing back at them while he was suspended for the game, was improper conduct in public that could lead to disorder at the venue.
“However, at the time he witnessed continuing personal insults and racist words and behavior directed at his player, and he protested to the spectators to stop them ... He did not turn away from a situation in which his player was being unjustly insulted, and sought to fulfill his responsibility as a coach who must protect his players (Translated from Korean. Original: 그러나 당시 자신의 선수를 향해 지속적으로 이어지는 인격적인 모욕과 인종차별적 언행을 목격했고, 이를 중단시키기 위해 관중에게 항의했다 ... 자신의 선수가 부당한 모욕을 당하는 상황을 외면하지 않고, 선수를 보호해야 하는 지도자로서의 책임을 다하고자 했다)”
Open source (opens in a new tab)Park Hang-seo's agency says the abuse of his player John Baggio prompted his protest (Star News article in Korean)Statement by DJ Management, Park's management agency, quoted at length
Why we used this label
The reference point is Park Hang-seo's confrontation with Pattaya United supporters after the November 1 match, for which FA Thailand later suspended him. The statement says he protested to stop abuse he witnessed and presents that as part of a coach's duty to protect his players, which argues that the confrontation was justified. The agency also says Park knows a coach must control his emotions, but it does not say his response was wrong, so we labeled it Defended or excused rather than Mixed or conditional.
FA Thailand's disciplinary committee found that Pattaya United supporters racially abused Kanchanaburi Power coach Park Hang-seo and forward John Baggio on November 1, and suspended Park for two matches for beckoning the fans to come down and face him.
