SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A court in South Korea has fined Son Woong-jung, the father of English Premier League star Son Heung-min, 3 million won ($2,200) for violating child welfare law at his soccer academy.
The Chuncheon District Court notified prosecutors on Friday that it issued such a ruling on Son Woong-jung, director of the Son Football Academy in Chuncheon city, according to a local prosecutors’ office.
The academy opened in 2021, with much of the estimated cost of $15 million funded by Son Heung-min, the Tottenham and South Korea star.
Two coaches at the academy also each received a 3 million won fine for the same violation, the prosecutors’ office said.
The parents of a young player have said their son was hit by one of the two coaches with a corner flag and also subjected to verbal abuse.
Son Woong-jung denied wrongdoing but offered an apology and promised to evaluate his coaching methods.
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Son Woong-jung, center, father of English Premier League star Son Heung-min, waits for his book signing event in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Park Jin-hee/Newsis via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal from global agrochemical manufacturer Bayer to block thousands of state lawsuits alleging it failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller could cause cancer.
The justices will consider whether the Environmental Protection Agency's approval of the Roundup weedkiller without a cancer warning should rule out the state court claims.
The Trump administration has weighed in on Bayer's behalf, reversing the Biden administration's position and putting it at odds with some supporters of the Make America Healthy Again agenda who oppose giving the company the legal immunity it seeks.
Some studies associate Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, with cancer, although the EPA has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
Bayer disputes the cancer claims but has set aside $16 billion to settle cases. At the same time, it has tried to persuade states to pass laws barring the lawsuits. Georgia and North Dakota have done so.
The high court will take up a case from Missouri, in which a jury awarded $1.25 million to a man who developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after spraying Roundup on a community garden in St. Louis.
The Supreme Court in 2022 declined to hear a similar claim from Bayer in a California case that awarded more than $86 million to a married couple.
But Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018, contends the Supreme Court should intervene now because lower courts have issued conflicting rulings. In 2024, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Bayer’s favor.
Bayer faces about 181,000 Roundup claims, mostly from residential users. It has stopped using glyphosate in Roundup sold in the U.S. residential lawn and garden market. But glyphosate remains in agricultural products. It’s designed to be used with genetically modified seeds, including corn, soybeans and cotton, that resist the weedkiller’s deadly effect. It allows farmers to produce more while conserving the soil by tilling it less.
Bayer has said it might have to consider pulling glyphosate from U.S. agricultural markets if the lawsuits persist.
It’s unclear if the case will be argued in the spring or at the start of the next court term, in October.
Follow the AP's coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.
U.S. Supreme Court is seen, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
The U.S. Supreme Court is seen, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
