Citing taxpayer funds and cronyism, S Korea president urges probe into World Cup exit

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung has ordered an investigation into the national football team's disappointing 2026 World Cup campaign after it crashed out before the knockout stage.

According to reports, Lee said the substantial amount of taxpayer money spent on the team's World Cup participation warranted a thorough review.

He directed the Culture, Sports and Tourism Ministry to investigate the causes of the team's failure and called for sweeping reforms to South Korea's sports administration.

“Given that significant national taxpayer funds and state support resources are invested even in World Cup participation, I ask that the ministry thoroughly investigate the precise circumstances of this incident, analyse its causes, and develop thorough measures for preventing recurrence and improvement.

“We will swiftly push forward with reforms to sports administration to ensure such a thing never happens again,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Lee also said that he was “utterly baffled” by the team’s performance and questioned why Hong Myung-bo, a former national team defender, was selected as coach.

In a post on X, Lee said the early exit of the team "appears to be a failure of organisation and personnel".

"When favouritism and cronyism take precedence over competence in selecting a commander, the result is as predictable as fire burning paper," he said, according to BBC.

Controversial appointment

Hong has since announced that he was stepping down.

“It 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,” he had said.

Hong’s appointment as head coach was controversial from the outset. As a former defender, he was a national icon of South Korea’s 2002 World Cup campaign, having captained the side to a historic semi-final run.

However, his previous spell in charge in 2014 ended in disappointment, with the team failing to progress beyond the group stage and not registering a single victory.

When he was reappointed in 2024, the decision triggered widespread backlash. Many fans criticised it as an example of the football association’s entrenched leadership favouring familiar figures, arguing that qualified foreign candidates - who had reportedly undergone a thorough vetting process - were overlooked.

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