"Congratulations, Mr. President!" President Lee Jae-myung received a surprise gift celebrating Korea's first-match victory at the 2026 North America World Cup during his state visit to Italy.
The Presidential Office said Friday that Lee received a cake from the hotel that hosted the Korea-Italy Business Roundtable event the previous day, bearing the Korea-Czech Republic score and the message "Congratulations, Mr. President!" The cake read "Korea 2 : Czech Republic 1" and "Congratulations, Mr. President." Earlier, Lee had also sent a congratulatory message to Korea's national football team. On the same day, he posted on X (formerly Twitter): "I send warm applause to our proud Taegeuk Warriors, as well as to the head coach and coaching staff."
After the official event, Lee was reported to have held an unscheduled conversation with attending business leaders, including Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee, Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Ryu Jin, LS Group Chairman Koo Ja-eun, and Hyosung Group Chairman Cho Hyun-joon. The World Cup victory cake appeared at the gathering held to express gratitude for the business leaders' participation in the event.
Lee also drew attention by bringing up football during his summit with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. He said, "It's a shame we couldn't have met Italy in the World Cup finals." When Meloni congratulated the Korean team on its first-match victory at this World Cup, Lee responded by consoling Italy, which failed to qualify for the finals.
A senior Presidential Office official also met with reporters at the Rome press center and said, "During the post-event conversation (for the Korea-Italy Business Roundtable), the hotel had prepared a cake. The hotel had made it because (Korea) won the football match 2 to 1, and it felt really good."
Earlier, the Korean national football team defeated the Czech Republic 2 to 1 in the first match of Group A in the World Cup group stage, held at Guadalajara Stadium in Zapopan near Guadalajara, Mexico. Although they conceded the opening goal, they turned the game around with an equalizer from Hwang In-beom and the winning goal from Oh Hyun-gyu. Korea is scheduled to play its second and third group-stage matches against Mexico at 10 a.m. on June 19 at the same venue, and against South Africa at 10 a.m. on June 25 at Monterrey Stadium.
