President Lee Jae-myung pledged Saturday to "swiftly pursue sports administration reform so that this kind of incident does not recur," after the South Korean national football team failed to reach the World Cup round of 32.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the president said, "As a former honorary professional football club director and a Red Devil at heart, I am beyond bewildered—I am dumbfounded by this unexpected result." He pointed out, "In the end, it has once again been proven that personnel decisions are everything," adding, "When an incompetent person is chosen as commander based on whose side they are on rather than ability, the result is as clear as day."
He continued, "Reckless personnel appointments, which fail to distinguish between public and private and put private interests ahead of public ones, are possible because monitoring, checks, and accountability for those with appointment authority are impossible or difficult." He stressed, "Ultimately, what matters for any organization is democratic composition and control, and the alignment of authority and responsibility."
The president said, "Establishing democratic leadership structures and objective monitoring and check systems in the private sector is a major state task of this administration." He explained, "Just as the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation's executive composition is being changed to direct election by members, I instructed that sports organizations such as the Korea Sports & Olympic Committee and the Korea Football Association adopt direct elections by all relevant sports figures, rather than the current indirect election system by a small number of delegates, through administrative guidance, and I understand this is being well implemented."
He also said, "Building a strict monitoring and check system for transparency, fairness, and objectivity in operations, and holding parties accountable in proportion to their actions and results, is also an important task." He added, "This failure to qualify for the World Cup finals, which has left the public dispirited, appears to be the result of organizational and personnel failure."
He continued, "Since a great deal of taxpayers' money and national support capacity is invested even in qualifying for the World Cup, I ask that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism carefully review the precise circumstances of this situation, analyze the causes, and prepare measures to prevent recurrence and make improvements." He added, "I am deeply sorry for having caused the public profound disappointment through such an absurd affair."
Meanwhile, the South Korean national football team, led by head coach Hong Myung-bo, failed to advance past the group stage of the 2026 World Cup in North and Central America, missing out on the round of 32.
