Up to 18,000 Gather at Gwanghwamun Square... 'Joy' Over Thrilling Comeback Victory

On June 12, citizens cheered passionately to support the South Korean national football team as they pulled off a thrilling comeback victory in their opening match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Unlike past group stage matches that were mostly held late at night or in the early morning, all three group stage matches this time are scheduled for weekday mornings during commuting hours.

Office workers even moved up their lunch hours to watch the game.

The event venues near the KT Building and around the Statue of King Sejong the Great were filled with a "red wave" of supporters gathered around large electronic screens installed throughout the area.

The Korea Football Association (KFA), KT, and the Red Devils estimated that up to 6,000 people gathered.

According to Seoul's real-time city data as of 1 p.m., between 16,000 and 18,000 citizens gathered at Gwanghwamun Square.

With daytime highs hovering around 30°C (86°F), supporters armed with sun visors, parasols, sunglasses, and portable fans chanted "Daehanminguk" (Korea) at the top of their lungs.

Among the various cheering outfits, red T-shirts, Taegeukgi (Korean national flags), and face paint, office workers wearing employee ID badges were spotted here and there.

They had joined the cheering crowd during their lunch break.

Lee Ji-sun (29), an employee at a securities firm, said, "It's lunchtime, but I came out to watch the game without even eating."

Some office workers took a full or half day of annual leave to visit the square.


As the crowd swelled during the match, pedestrian traffic around Gwanghwamun Square became congested.

A police officer, repeatedly blowing a whistle out of safety concerns, said, "There are more office workers now because of lunchtime," adding, "Please keep moving and do not stand still."

The square, where citizens had been cheering while enduring the heat and crowds, fell into a collective sigh when South Korea conceded the opening goal in the 14th minute of the second half.

When Ladislav Krejčí's header from a throw-in found the back of the net, citizens sitting on the ground stood up all at once, staring at the electronic screen in disbelief.

Watching the game with anxious faces, citizens jumped for joy in their spots when Hwang In-beom scored a sensational equalizer just eight minutes after conceding.

As the cheering grew louder, Oh Hyeon-gyu scored the go-ahead goal in the 35th minute of the second half, prompting citizens to throw their arms in the air and scream in excitement.

Kim Min-ki (30), who visited the square with Jeong Hyeon-seok (28), said, "We actually won. And it was a comeback victory, so I almost cried. It was tough because of the heat, but we overcame it with passion."

Jeong smiled and said, "I want to eat kongguksu (cold soybean noodle soup) to celebrate."

Four eighth-grade boys from Dogok Middle School in Seoul, who joined the street cheering while on a school field trip, said, "When we turned the game around, I thought I was going to die. The dopamine was rushing. Instead of studying this evening, we are going to Gangnam Station to buy jerseys."

The crowd, still basking in the afterglow of the comeback victory, dispersed quickly and orderly under the guidance of police officers.

By around 1:10 p.m., about 10 minutes after the match ended, pedestrian flow across the square, except for the area around the Sejong Center, returned to normal without any bottlenecks.

Due to the "midday World Cup," chicken restaurants enjoyed an unexpected boom in broad daylight.

The BBQ Hongdae branch, which Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently visited for an after-party, was bustling with customers eating chicken and watching the football match.


The store opened earlier than usual.

Since it was during regular working hours, few customers wore cheering attire, but their expressions were just as joyful as those of the supporters in the square.

Some companies even organized group cheering events.

At the main branch of Dalmaji Gwangjang Barbecue in Eulji-ro, Jung-gu, Seoul, around 200 employees of OB Beer wore matching cheering jerseys and watched the game while enjoying "chimaek" (chicken and beer).

In Yeouido, Seoul's financial district, Korea Investment & Securities set up a "Yeouido Cheering" stage with a capacity of about 1,200 seats.

Even near the Jamsil Handball Gymnasium, the site of the protest blockading the Jamsil ballot counting station, people were spotted watching the football match on their smartphones or laptops.

Even while watching, they held the Taegeukgi or the U.S. flag in one hand and chanted slogans such as "rigged election."

(Photo courtesy of Genesis BBQ Group, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.