"Feeling Baffled by Unexpected Results... A Failure of Organization and Personnel"

[Anchor]

Regarding the national team's elimination from the World Cup group stage, President Lee Jae-myung stated, "I feel baffled by the unexpected results." Pointing to a "failure of organization and personnel," he instructed the relevant ministry to prepare measures to prevent a recurrence.

Reporter Kim Kwan-jin has the story.

[Reporter]

Following the confirmation of the national football team's failure to advance to the World Cup Round of 32, President Lee Jae-myung wrote on social media today (June 28), "As a former honorary professional football club general manager and a Red Devils fan at heart, I feel beyond embarrassed—I feel baffled by this unexpected result."

He diagnosed the cause of these results as a "failure of organization and personnel."

President Lee pointed out, "It has been proven once again that personnel management is everything," adding, "If you select incompetent people as leaders by prioritizing 'your side' or 'my side' over ability, the results are obvious."

He further emphasized, "The reason why shoddy personnel decisions that prioritize private interests over public interest are possible is because monitoring, checks, and accountability for those with appointment authority are impossible or difficult," and added, "For all organizations, democratic composition and control, as well as the alignment of authority and responsibility, are important."

President Lee also requested that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the competent authority for the Korea Football Association, analyze the cause of this situation and carefully prepare measures to prevent a recurrence, noting that national taxes and state support capabilities are invested in World Cup participation.

In relation to this, a presidential office official told SBS, "He is empathizing with the public outrage," and added, "It is not just about the results, but because there have been chronic problems discussed for a long time."

Previously, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young also wrote on social media, "Korean football, which has fallen into a quagmire, must start over from the bottom," and added, "It is time to create fundamental alternatives, identifying where things started to go wrong and what the root cause holding us back was."

(Video reporting: Kim Byeong-ju, Video editing: Lee Seung-jin, Design: Jang Chae-woo)

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