Hyundai Scion Throws Hat into FIFA Ring

Chung Mong-joon, the honorary president of the Korean Football Association, officially announced his candidacy for the FIFA presidency in Paris on Monday.

Chung in a press conference at a hotel pledged to be a candidate representing non-European regions.

The election is scheduled for February next year.

He pledged to improve FIFA's financial transparency, disclose the president's salary, and ban the president from running for a second term.

If elected, he would serve only one four-year term during which he would reform FIFA, he said.

The election next February is being held after disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter (79) announced he is stepping down over a massive corruption scandal just five days after he was elected to a fifth term in June.

U.S. and Swiss authorities have arrested a clutch of former and incumbent FIFA officials on corruption charges, but Blatter has so far escaped scot-free.

Michel Platini, president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and Prince Ali bin Hussein of Jordan are likely to run against Chung, who owns Hyundai Heavy Industries and represents the ruling Saenuri Party in the National Assembly.