Coach Hong Myung-bo resigned hours after President Lee Jae Myung blamed “organizational and personnel failures” for South Korea’s shocking World Cup qualifying collapse and the men’s team’s failure to reach the round of 32.
By the time the team’s campaign ended, the frustration wasn’t confined to locker rooms. It spilled straight into the country’s top office.
Hours after South Korea’s president, Lee Jae Myung, said “organizational and personnel failures” led to the men’s national team’s shocking early exit from the World Cup run, coach Hong Myung-bo stepped down. Lee posted the remarks on social media on Sunday, June 28.
In his statement, Lee said he was “utterly baffled” by the outcome and pointed directly to the way decisions were made. “I am not just taken aback by this unexpected outcome, I am utterly baffled,” he wrote. “Once again, it has been proven that personnel decisions are everything.”
He also criticized what he described as an “incompetent” leader and warned that the emphasis on “us versus them” had been placed ahead of competence. “When ‘us versus them’ is prioritized over competence, and an incompetent person is selected as a leader, the outcome is as clear as day,” Lee wrote.
Hong Myung-bo’s resignation followed quickly after Lee’s remarks, turning what had been framed as a football disappointment into a national accountability dispute.
South Korea’s failure to qualify for the round of 32 was a shock. In Group A, South Korea was considered a favorite to advance alongside Mexico. After beating Czechia in its first game, it suffered a tough loss against Mexico in its second contest.
But the decisive blow came in the final group match: South Africa held South Korea scoreless in a 1-0 victory that clinched the round of 32 spot for Bafana Bafana. South Korea finished third and then had to wait, hoping it would land among the top eight third-place teams that would advance.
That hope ran out on Saturday, June 27, when South Korea was officially eliminated.
The political and leadership pressure has been building for months. South Korean media has been highly critical of the national team’s disappointing run. with much of the blame directed at Hong—especially because his position was already in question after he was re-hired for a role he previously held in an unsuccessful first run.
Lee added another layer to the debate, linking the team’s collapse to the difficulty of policing appointment decisions. He wrote: “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.”.
He asked the country’s sports ministry to investigate why South Korea failed to reach the knockout round and to develop measures to prevent it from happening again. emphasizing that “significant national taxpayer funds and state support resources are invested.” Lee also advocated for better hiring practices for its coach.
In a final apology to the public, Lee said the failure to qualify—one that left people “disheartened”—appears to be the result of “organizational and personnel failures.” He added: “I deeply apologize for the profound disappointment caused to the public by this preposterous situation.”
South Korea’s World Cup history made the setback sting even more. The team made the round of 16 in the 2022 World Cup, the first time since 2010. It has never made the knockout round in back-to-back tournaments.
Taken together. the sequence now plays like a chain of decisions colliding with a painful outcome: a campaign that started with expectations. a group-stage finish that turned on a 1-0 loss where South Korea was held scoreless. and a rapid political reaction that ended with a coach resigning after the president’s public charge that leadership choices—not just results—were to blame.
Where the team goes from here is no longer only a question for football officials. With Lee’s call for a ministry investigation and a shift toward “better hiring practices for its coach. ” the next steps—who chooses. how they’re chosen. and how those decisions are held to account—will likely define the next chapter as much as the match reports do.
South Korea Hong Myung-bo Lee Jae Myung World Cup round of 32 Group A Czechia Mexico South Africa sports ministry coach resignation personnel failures U.S. markets