The Korea Football Association (KFA), which recently faced a shocking elimination in the World Cup group stage, has been found to have had no internal checks and balances in place.
According to 50 sets of minutes from board meetings and general assemblies held since 2021, not a single item out of 185 agenda items was rejected.
Only 7 items were partially approved or approved with modifications, while the remaining 178 were approved exactly as proposed.
Excluding 8 board meetings held via written resolution and one meeting where the time was not recorded, an analysis of the 31 remaining meetings showed an average duration of approximately 52 minutes, meaning an average of only 7.2 minutes was spent on each agenda item.
The board, which had effectively become a rubber stamp, failed to properly filter out controversial items that faced public backlash.
The KFA once made a surprise decision to pardon 100 football figures, including 48 involved in match-fixing in 2011, before eventually canceling the pardons entirely through a re-deliberation. It was discovered that the three agenda items, including the surprise pardon, were processed in a hasty manner within 30 minutes.
As public criticism mounted at the time, the decision was retracted just three days later after 45 minutes of discussion.
In 2024, when lawmakers from both ruling and opposition parties on the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee requested the submission of meeting minutes, the KFA responded by stating, "We ask for your understanding that we cannot disclose them as they contain sensitive information, such as audit results."
Circumstances also suggest that KFA President Chung Mong-gyu, who has led the association for 13 years, participated in decisions related to his own interests.
In 2024, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism demanded disciplinary action of suspension or higher against President Chung, citing his improper intervention in the process of appointing the national team head coach. Records show that President Chung attended the board meeting where the decision to appeal the first-instance court ruling, which deemed the disciplinary action lawful, was made.
Meanwhile, the association has received approximately 184.38 billion won in public funds over the past five years, from 2021 to 2025.
Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Lee Ui-seon | Graphics by Lee Jung-ju | Produced by SBS Digital News
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