President Lee calls undemocratic structure 'root cause' of Korea Football Association problems

President Lee Jae Myung called on the Korea Football Association on Wednesday to pursue "democratic composition, transparent operations and fair accounting," urging officials to "do well, as many people are watching."

Lee made the remarks to Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Yoo Seung-min during a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism briefing held at Cheong Wa Dae's Yeongbingwan that afternoon. The comments came as the KFA's governance has faced renewed scrutiny following the conclusion of the 2026 North and Central America World Cup.

"What the public is paying attention to is the football association," Lee said. "There are various problems, but the root cause of the biggest problem is its undemocratic structure."

He went on to ask whether elections within the association were producing candidates who were "democratically and objectively recognized," and raised concerns about long-term entrenchment in leadership. "Is it not just the KFA — do other associations have these problems as well?" he said.

Yoo said some associations did face such issues while others functioned well, adding that because all heads of sports governing bodies serve as unpaid honorary positions, "there may be some shortcomings in attention to detail."

Lee then described the layered structure of Korean sports governance — the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee at the top, followed by affiliated associations, then regional bodies, then local chapters — and asked whether the resulting network was not enormous. "Isn't it a massive octopus-like pyramid?" he said.

When Yoo said the total number of affiliated organizations could be put at around 11,000, Lee cited district-level table tennis associations as an example and said the election process for leadership positions was "fiercely competitive," drawing on his own direct and indirect experience with sports bodies.

"Particularly, the election process is heavily tied to politics — people get swayed by it, political motives get involved, there seem to be vested interests, there seem to be entrenched factions," Lee said. "To fundamentally resolve this, democratic composition is the most important thing."

Lee repeatedly called for fair elections within association leadership. "The scope should be expanded as much as possible so that members can vote directly, and people should not be allowed to stay in power for too long," he said, before asking Yoo whether the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee had already shifted to a direct election system under his leadership.

After learning that the committee's electoral college comprised roughly 92,000 people — including executives, referees, coaches, athletes and athlete managers — Lee said the scale would make vote-buying impossible.

He said the same principle should apply across all sports associations. "The scope of the electorate must be expanded as much as possible so that voters can choose directly," Lee said. "If the pool of eligible voters is too narrow, holding an election is as good as not holding one."