South Korea’s president is not taking their World Cup elimination lightly.
The team was widely expected to emerge from a group including Mexico, Czechia and South Africa, but suffered a surprise defeat to the latter on Wednesday and missed out on being one of the top eight third-place teams to advance to the Round of 32.
On Sunday, the country’s president, Lee Jae Myung, said he was “utterly baffled” by the team’s performance and blasted head coach Hong Myung-bo as “incompetent” as he called for the government to investigate the early exit.
Hong, who has announced he will resign after his team finished the group stage with three points, was previously the country’s head coach from 2013-14.
He was re-hired to the role in 2024, and President Lee suggested that a flawed hiring process led to his return.
“The reason such botched appointments — which fail to distinguish between public and private interests and prioritize personal gain over the public good — are possible is that it is impossible or difficult to monitor, check, and hold those with appointment authority accountable,” Lee wrote on X.
He added that the elimination was a “profound disappointment” seemingly caused by “organizational and personnel failures.”
“Given that participating in the World Cup requires a significant investment of taxpayers’ money and national resources, I ask that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism thoroughly investigate the exact circumstances of this incident, analyze its causes, and develop measures to prevent recurrence and ensure improvement,” he said.
For his part, Hong said of his decision to step down: “It was not an easy decision for me to take this role, but once I took it, I thought about nothing else except being responsible until the very last moment.”
South Korea entered the tournament as the second-highest team in their group, behind only Mexico, but stumbled after an opening 2-1 win against Czechia.
They lost 1-0 to Mexico but still needed just a point against South Africa to move on to the round of 32.
Instead, they suffered a shock 1-0 loss and it was South Africa who moved on.
