President Lee Jae-myung stated that the South Korean national football team's failure to advance to the Round of 32 at the 2026 North and Central America World Cup was a "failure of organization and personnel," and pledged to swiftly push for reforms in sports administration.

This is interpreted as a direct criticism of the ongoing controversies that have persisted from the selection of the national team head coach to the final tournament process.

On his social media today (June 28), President Lee shared a post by Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Choi Hwi-young regarding the elimination of the "Hong Myung-bo squad" from the World Cup group stage. President Lee wrote, "As a former honorary professional football club president and a fan who is a Red Devil at heart, I feel beyond flustered; I am bewildered by this unexpected result."

He continued his criticism, stating, "It has been proven once again that personnel management is everything. If you select an incompetent person as a leader because you value 'your side' over 'my side' more than ability, the result is obvious." He added, "The reason why such nonsensical personnel decisions—which fail to distinguish between public and private matters and prioritize private interests over public good—are possible is because it is impossible or difficult to monitor, check, and hold the person with appointment authority accountable."

He further added, "Ultimately, democratic composition and control, as well as the alignment of authority and responsibility, are important for all organizations. Establishing democratic leadership structures and objective monitoring and check systems in the private sector is a key national policy task of this administration."

President Lee mentioned, "Just as we changed the composition of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation executives to a direct election system by members, I have instructed that sports organizations like the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee and the Korea Football Association should introduce a direct election system by all related athletes, rather than a minority indirect election system by a narrow group of delegates. I understand this is being implemented well."

He emphasized, "Building a strict monitoring and check system for transparency, fairness, and objectivity in operations, and ensuring that individuals are held accountable for their actions and results, is also an important task."

President Lee urged, "The failure to advance in the World Cup, which has left the public feeling despondent, appears to be due to a failure of organization and personnel. As significant taxpayer money and national support resources are invested in World Cup participation, I ask the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to thoroughly examine the exact situation, analyze the causes, and prepare measures to prevent recurrence and improve the system."

He concluded by saying, "I am deeply sorry for causing such great disappointment to the public due to this absurd situation. I will swiftly push for reforms in sports administration to ensure that such incidents do not happen again."

(Photo: Yonhap News)