South Korean FIFA presidential hopeful Chung Mong-joon has called for talks on forming an emergency task force to ensure smooth operation at the world football governing body marred by corruption allegations.
In a statement released Tuesday, Chung said FIFA is facing "an unprecedented crisis," after the Swiss Attorney General's Office announced last week that FIFA President Sepp Blatter is under criminal investigation. UEFA President Michel Platini, considered the main rival to Chung in the presidential election, may also be implicated.
Chung hopes to replace Blatter in the Feb. 26 election. The incumbent head has offered to resign amid damaging corruption scandals that have seen officials get arrested, though he plans to remain in his post until the vote is held.
Chung, who served as a FIFA vice president from 1994 to 2011, said he regretted not having enough power to stop "such corrupt practices that have now come back to haunt and destroy FIFA."
"The most urgent task at hand is to root out corruption from within FIFA," he said in an English statement. "Investigations into illegal activities of the past should be left to the proper legal authorities. Justice must be served. Resuscitating FIFA, however, should be left to those who love football."
With FIFA's Secretary General Jerome Valcke also suspended, Chung said it's time for international talks on FIFA's future.
"Under such circumstances, FIFA and regional confederations should consider convening extra-ordinary sessions of their respective Executive Committee as well as Congress to set-up an emergency task force that will enable FIFA Secretariat to function without interruption," Chung said. "FIFA should not be an institution that provides for the opulent lifestyle of a powerful few. Rather, it should be transformed into an organization dedicated to providing footballers and football fans with the experience of joy and hope that only football can provide, all the while instilling the spirit of fair play."
The veteran football administrator said he will "mobilize all my experience and resources at my disposal to the re-birth, the 'renaissance,' of FIFA."
Chung reiterated his earlier pledge that if elected, he will only serve a single, four-year term as FIFA president.
"I will use the first two years to undertake a complete structural and operational reform of FIFA," he said. "The other two years will be devoted to bringing about unity and harmony to the organization. Forty years of culture of corruption can be eradicated in four years." (Yonhap)
