Chung Mong-gyu opposed Hong Myung-bo's appointment, former national team player reveals

Questions are mounting over the process by which Hong Myung-bo was appointed head coach of South Korea's national football team, with attention now focused on the identity of the "invisible hand" that played a decisive role in the selection. Former Korea Football Association president Chung Mong-gyu — who along with Hong was labeled part of a so-called "Korea University cartel" — opposed Hong's appointment, according to accounts that have emerged.

Former national team player Lee Chun-soo discussed the 2024 appointment process on his YouTube channel "Leechunsu," drawing on testimony from National Assembly hearings and accounts he had personally heard.

Under KFA regulations, the national team coaching staff selection committee recommends candidates, and the board of directors holds the authority to make the final appointment.

Jeong Hae-sung, who chaired the selection committee at the time, presented three finalists to Chung on June 28, 2024 — Hong and two foreign coaches. The committee had spent six months vetting foreign candidates, but a late suggestion that a domestic coach should also be included led to Hong being added to the list.

"When the three candidates were brought in for the final report, I'm told the committee chair was delegated authority by the members to decide the ranking — the scores must have been close," Lee said. "So Jeong went in with Hong ranked first. That's where the trouble started."

Lee said Chung's reaction upon receiving the report was sharp. "Chung reportedly said, 'After all that, it's Hong Myung-bo? You dragged this out for months and it comes back around to Hong Myung-bo?' That exchange came out at the Sunday hearing," Lee said, referring to the National Assembly hearing held Sunday.

"There were reportedly raised voices," Lee added. "Chung must have given him an earful. Six months of saying you'd find a foreign coach, and then suddenly Hong Myung-bo is the top pick — Chung was already taking so much heat at the time. If Hong comes back around as the No. 1 choice, that's like telling me to drop dead."

Jeong resigned as committee chair that same day, leaving the KFA without anyone to lead the selection process.

"That's where things went wrong," Lee said. "Lee Im-saeng — the technical director at the time — ends up stepping into that role when he had no business being there. I think that's the key question: who told Lee Im-saeng it was OK to take that position?" Lee noted that Lee Im-saeng was not even a member of the selection committee and therefore lacked the standing to assume its chairmanship.

"He is absolutely not the type to volunteer to take on a mess like this," Lee said of Lee Im-saeng. "At the National Assembly hearing, lawmakers asked who sent Lee Im-saeng into that role, but neither Chung nor KFA vice president Kim Jeong-bae could give an answer. Because that part is hidden, there's no answer to be found."

Lee Im-saeng subsequently interviewed the two foreign candidates in a formal setting but met Hong late at night at a bakery to persuade him to accept the position. In effect, the appointment was decided and announced before the board of directors formally ratified it through a written resolution — a procedural irregularity that has drawn sustained criticism.

Son Su-ho, an attorney serving on the KFA's fair trade committee, raised similar concerns Monday on CBS Radio's "Park Sung-tae's News Show." "Chung rejected Hong Myung-bo when he was presented as the top candidate," Son said. "Jeong Hae-sung then resigned. And Hong himself initially declined before eventually agreeing after being asked repeatedly to take the job."

"It's a mystery how Lee Im-saeng suddenly appeared after Jeong's resignation," Son said. "How did he end up at the forefront of the coaching appointment process? Was it voluntary, or did someone push him out front? Was he just a figurehead? What on earth happened behind the scenes? That's the mystery."

Son said the hearing should have gotten to the bottom of it. He noted that the KFA's account kept shifting: Lee Im-saeng first claimed he had received authority from the selection committee members, then said it came from Jeong himself — but when neither claim held up, the association began arguing that the KFA president had designated Lee as the appropriate person to handle the situation under emergency provisions in the association's charter.

Son identified Kim Jeong-bae, a former vice minister of culture, sports and tourism who serves as the KFA's standing vice president, as a key figure. Son cited a statement by Lee Im-saeng recorded in a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism audit report, in which Lee said Kim had instructed him directly: "The coaching appointment has stalled for five months, information keeps leaking from the committee, and there's no time to reconstitute it — you need to move this forward. I simply followed those instructions." Son also cited a further statement in which Lee said he had reported to Chung by text message and received the reply: "Review the three finalists without preconceptions. I trust your judgment." Lee said he took that response as authorization from Chung and proceeded to hold a press conference on that basis.

Son also recounted Kim Jeong-bae's own account, in which Kim said he had judged Lee Im-saeng to be the best person to carry the process forward and asked him to take it on. Kim said he gave Lee a specific mission: meet face-to-face with each of the three shortlisted candidates, make sure to meet Hong Myung-bo in particular, assess them, and report back to the association with a priority ranking. "Make sure you meet Hong Myung-bo," Kim said he told him.

Son expressed frustration that the hearing had failed to press deeply enough on these points.