Hong Myung-bo comes under fire even at National Assembly confirmation hearing
Prime minister candidate Han Sung-sook said Friday that public outrage over an alleged cartel within the Korea Football Association would be enough to bring about a resolution, as scrutiny of the national team's poor World Cup performance spilled into her confirmation hearing.
At the hearing at the National Assembly on Friday, independent lawmaker Choi Hyeok-jin raised concerns about cartels entrenched across various sectors in South Korea, including the football association. Han said the football association issue "goes without saying" and added, "Because the entire nation is speaking out with strong anger, it will be resolved."
Coach Hong Myung-bo has come under intense scrutiny after South Korea finished third in Group A, losing 1-0 to South Africa in their final group-stage match at the 2026 North America World Cup — a result that has gripped the entire nation.
Baek Hye-ryeon, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker and chair of the special confirmation hearing committee, said she had heard people joking that Friday's session should be a hearing on national team coach Hong Myung-bo rather than on candidate Han. "Even so, I will make sure we conduct the hearing diligently, in line with what the public expects," she said.
Fellow Democratic Party lawmaker Park Seon-won drew a parallel between football and the prime minister nomination, saying coach Guus Hiddink — a coaching specialist — had proven more effective than Hong, a former player. "I believe the president chose this candidate because she is a Hiddink, not an ordinary bureaucrat or the typical professor type we've seen before," Park said. "Please become like Hiddink."
Meanwhile, criticism of a Korea University alumni network wielding influence over key appointments and the national team coaching selection process at the KFA has consistently surfaced, with critics labeling it the "Korea University mafia" or "Korea University cartel."
Shin Moon-sun, a football commentator and sports records specialist serving as a visiting professor at Myongji University, said in an interview published April 2 that KFA technical director Lee Im-saeng, a Korea University alumnus, had installed Hong as coach through what he called a "midnight bakery interview" that bypassed proper procedures — "a disgrace to Korean football administration." Shin added that Hong had long enjoyed the favor of former KFA president Chung Mong-joon and that an effective "sanctuary" had formed around Hong within the association, with no one willing to speak critically of the man he described as "the crown prince of the Hyundai family."
Shortly after the South Africa match, former national team player Ahn Jung-hwan directly blamed Hong, saying, "The responsibility lies with the coach," and calling for a complete overhaul. "Both the coach and the Korea Football Association need to be swept out entirely," he said.
In a column published in a newspaper, Ahn wrote of the South Africa match: "Tactics? There were none. I couldn't sense any tactics at all." He added, "Ultimately, it is the coach who builds the team. Whatever the result, looking at the performance alone, accountability is unavoidable." He went on to demand sweeping reform, writing, "Unless everything is cleaned out completely, this will keep repeating itself. If something went wrong, the Korea Football Association needs to be changed and overhauled entirely."
jshan@heraldcorp.com
