▲ Former Korea Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu (left) and former national team head coach Hong Myung-bo
A parliamentary hearing by the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee of the National Assembly regarding the Korea Football Association (KFA) is scheduled to be held on July 30.
The committee pursued the hearing to thoroughly examine overall operational issues within the KFA amid the severe fallout from the national football team's elimination in the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America.
The hearing was originally scheduled for the 22nd of this month, but it will finally take place after being postponed once due to negotiations over committee formations and other reasons.
The KFA finds itself engulfed in turbulence as public criticism has intensified further following the national team's disappointing result of failing to even reach the round of 32 at the North America World Cup.
Led by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the "K-Football Innovation Committee" has been launched and is active to overhaul the football community, while former President Chung Mong-gyu, who led the association for 13 years, has resigned, prompting restructuring efforts that include improving the election system.
During the hearing held amidst these circumstances, the appointment processes for former national team head coach Jurgen Klinsmann and former head coach Hong Myung-bo are expected to come under fire once again, alongside criticisms regarding administrative disorder within the KFA.
Former KFA President Chung Mong-gyu and former head coach Hong Myung-bo have been adopted as witnesses, while KFA Vice President Lee Yong-soo and Managing Director Kim Seung-hee are also included among the witnesses.
Former head coach Hong Myung-bo, who resigned late last month following the confirmed World Cup group-stage exit, returned to South Korea with the national team before departing shortly afterward for Los Angeles, United States, where his family resides, sparking a "fleeing controversy." However, he is reportedly back in South Korea recently and preparing to attend the hearing.
The Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee has announced it will question former coach Hong about the legitimacy of his appointment process, the causes of the World Cup slump and responsibility for match management, and the circumstances surrounding his early return and subsequent departure back to the U.S.
Park Ji-sung, co-chairperson of the K-Football Innovation Committee, and Yoo Seung-min, president of the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee, have been adopted as reference witnesses.
Chairperson Park Ji-sung has already expressed his intention not to attend the hearing.
Reference witnesses are not under any obligation to attend.
Former KFA Technical Director Lee Im-saeng and former Vice President Park Hang-seo, who were adopted as witnesses, also do not plan to attend, raising concerns in some quarters about a "toothless hearing."
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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