The president of South Korea demands a government investigation into the failure of the 2026 World Cup

Lee Jae-myung harshly criticized the local football association for wasting public funds and questionable appointments. The coach of the team, Myung Bo Hong, said that he is taking full responsibility and leaving his position. The president admitted that he was completely baffled by the results of the national team and openly criticized the Korea Football Association for the selection of the coach. According to him, during the appointment of the coach, his competence was not taken into account, and there was also a mixing of public and private interests, which made it almost impossible to control such personnel decisions. In a lengthy statement on social network X, Lee Jae-myung highlighted the significant taxpayer funds spent on the team's participation in the tournament and apologized to the public for the deep disappointment: "Dear Minister Choi Hwi-yeon and all the civil servants involved, thank you for your work. I was not only perplexed, but also genuinely shocked by such an unexpected result. It proved once again that personnel decisions determine everything. If during the appointment of the head coach of the South Korean national team, personal dedication and the division between one's own and others, rather than professional abilities, are more important, then the appointment of an incompetent person to a leadership position inevitably leads to such a result. Such wrong personnel decisions, when they do not distinguish between public and private interests and put personal benefit above the public good, become possible due to the absence or weakness of mechanisms of control, deterrence and prosecution of those who make personnel decisions. That is why a democratic management system, proper control, and the correspondence between authority and responsibility are extremely important for any organization. The formation of democratic leadership in the private sector and the creation of an objective system of control and deterrence is one of the key tasks of this government. Just as agricultural co-operatives introduced direct election of leadership by members of co-operatives, I directed that sports organizations such as the National Olympic Committee and the Football Association move away from indirect elections through a narrow circle of delegates and move to a system of direct elections in which all representatives of the sports community participate. As far as I know, this assignment is being properly executed. An important task is also the creation of a strict system of control and deterrence, which will ensure transparency, fairness and objectivity of management, as well as guarantee responsibility for actions and their consequences. It seems that the current failure to reach the final part of the World Cup was the result of a failure in the organization of work and personnel policy. Since participation in the World Cup requires significant state resources and taxpayers' funds, I ask the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to thoroughly investigate all the circumstances of this situation, conduct an accurate analysis of its causes, and prepare comprehensive measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. I sincerely apologize to the citizens for the deep disappointment caused by this unfortunate situation. We will push forward the reform of sports management as soon as possible so that something like this never happens again," Lee Jae-myung wrote on his page. It will be recalled that the South Korean national team took third place in Group A, having scored 3 points in three matches of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup. The team did not make it to the top eight of the third place, which led to the end of the performance in the tournament. Against the background of the statements of the state leadership, the head coach of the team, Myung Bo Hong, officially announced on Sunday that he is leaving his position Myeong Bo Hong, who played 136 times for the national team and is regarded as one of the greatest footballers in Asia, returns as head coach in 2024 (he already led the team in 2013). He led the national team to the 2026 World Cup without suffering a single defeat in qualification. However, immediately after his appointment in 2024, the Ministry of Sports demanded that the association review the decision, citing violations of internal rules and an unreasonable interview process. The Football Association then rejected all the accusations.