{"id":507458,"date":"2026-06-28T17:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T17:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=507458"},"modified":"2026-06-28T21:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:24:42","slug":"south-korea-president-calls-for-government-investigation-into-world-cup-exit-as-head-coach-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=507458","title":{"rendered":"South Korea president calls for government investigation into World Cup exit as head coach resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"<table>\n<tr>\n<td> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/sports\/comments\/1ui3cnt\/south_korea_president_calls_for_government\/\"> <img src=\"https:\/\/external-preview.redd.it\/Y6H9gRyQja53DcRFhkHmQu3gJmrfZd_Fw88CaUIIxqo.jpeg?width=640&amp;crop=smart&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=5831754105919faf574ba681d075915ba3c3d2a7\" alt=\"South Korea president calls for government investigation into World Cup exit as head coach resigns\" title=\"South Korea president calls for government investigation into World Cup exit as head coach resigns\" \/> <\/a> <\/td>\n<td> <!-- SC_OFF --><\/p>\n<div class=\"md\">\n<p>South Korea president Lee Jae Myung has called for the country\u2019s sports ministry to investigate the national team\u2019s World Cup group-stage exit with head coach Hong Myung-bo saying he will resign.<\/p>\n<p>President Lee said he was \u201cutterly baffled\u201d by the results and appeared to criticise the South Korean football association\u2019s (KFA) appointment of head coach Hong, as he alleged that \u201ccompetence\u201d had not been prioritised when selecting a leader.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, Hong said he was \u201cstepping down\u201d as coach and added: \u201cIt was not an easy decision for me to take this role, but once I took it, I thought about nothing else except being responsible until the very last moment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a lengthy statement posted on social media, the president cited the \u201csignificant\u201d taxpayer funds used for the team\u2019s participation, apologised for the \u201cprofound disappointment\u201d caused to the public and called for the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to investigate what went wrong so the government can reform their sports administration.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not just taken aback by this unexpected outcome\u2014I am utterly baffled,\u201d Lee wrote on X.<\/p>\n<p>He continued: \u201cGiven that significant national taxpayer funds and state support resources are invested even in World Cup participation, I ask that the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism thoroughly investigate the precise circumstances of this incident, analyse its causes, and develop thorough measures for preventing recurrence and improvement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will swiftly push forward with reforms to sports administration to ensure such a thing never happens again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- SC_ON --> &#032; submitted by &#032; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/user\/TheAthletic\"> \/u\/TheAthletic <\/a> <br \/> <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7403385\/2026\/06\/28\/south-korea-world-cup-exit-president\/?unlocked_article_code=1.tlA.XcLd.gTi3zWhpo39l&amp;source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&amp;smid=url-share-ta\">[link]<\/a><\/span> &#032; <span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/sports\/comments\/1ui3cnt\/south_korea_president_calls_for_government\/\">[comments]<\/a><\/span> <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>South Korea president Lee Jae Myung has called for the country\u2019s sports ministry to investigate the national team\u2019s World Cup group-stage exit with head coach <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=507458\" title=\"South Korea president calls for government investigation into World Cup exit as head coach resigns\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":507460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=507458"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":507461,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507458\/revisions\/507461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/507460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=507458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=507458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=507458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}