South Korea’s World Cup defeat didn’t end with a sad locker room and fans screaming at the TV. It went beyond the president’s desk.
After South Korea was eliminated from Group A on Saturday, June 27, coach Hong Myung-bo resigned the next day, ending his turbulent second term leading the national team.
“I deeply apologize to the Korean people who supported the team. I am resigning today,” Hong said at a press conference. “It was not an easy choice to take this job, but from the moment I accepted the job, my sole focus was to responsibly fulfill my duties to the end.”
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However, the aftermath of the defeat was not limited to him.
On Sunday, June 28, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called for a formal government investigation into the team’s disappointing tournament, but fan anger spilled over from social media to real-world security concerns ahead of the team’s return home.
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In theory, the Korean tournament wasn’t all bad. The team won 2-1 against the Czech Republic and lost 1-0 to Mexico. Therefore, the final group match against South Africa was important. A win would have put South Korea in an even better position to advance, and in the expanded World Cup format, where the top eight third-place teams advance to the Round of 32, they could have won even with a draw. Instead, South Korea lost 1-0 and finished third in Group A with three points, meaning they had to wait for another result to decide whether that would be the case. That’s enough. Spoiler: It wasn’t.
However, it was Hong’s line-up selection against South Africa that infuriated fans the most. In this match, in which South Korea needed to save the tournament, Coach Hong removed Son Heung-min from the starting lineup and said after the match that he intended to use Son Heung-min when South Africa were tired. Sung Sung came on as a substitute at halftime, but by that point Korea was already chasing the game.
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Hong later admitted he would never make the same decision again, but by then the damage had already been done. And the wave of hatred from home went far beyond the usual post-tournament disappointment.
Reports from South Korea include online death threats against Hong, increased police security ahead of the team’s return to Incheon International Airport, and furious reactions from fans on social media.
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Fans are especially dissatisfied because Korea has enough talent to make them expect more. The team included Son Heung-min, one of Asia’s biggest soccer stars, as well as European-based players such as Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae. Team captain Son Heung-min posted a lengthy apology on Instagram, asking supporters not to criticize or hurt the players too much.
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Hong’s return as head coach in 2024 was already controversial, with fans questioning whether the Korean Football Association had a fair hiring process. The Ministry of Sports had previously claimed that KFA had not followed its own procedures, including a “reasonable interview process”.
President Lee has made it clear that he believes the current collapse was not simply due to poor leadership. In a statement posted on social media, Lee said he was “not just confused but completely baffled” by the outcome, arguing that South Korea’s early withdrawal reflected deeper problems with leadership and personnel decisions.
“When favoritism and nepotism take precedence over ability in selecting commanders, the results are as predictable as paper on fire,” Lee wrote.
Lee also pointed out that people’s taxes and national resources are used to support the national team, and argued that the failure of the World Cup is not just a personal soccer problem. He argued that since public money was invested in the team’s participation, the public owed it a clearer explanation of what went wrong. He called on the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism to investigate the situation around the exit, analyze the causes, and propose reforms to prevent a recurrence.
While this may sound like an unusually dramatic reaction to a World Cup defeat, it is not completely unprecedented.
The closest comparison would be France in 2010, when Les Bleus collapsed after Nicolas Anelka was sent home after the World Cup in South Africa and players boycotted training in protest. The tragedy quickly went beyond the locker room. Then-president Nicolas Sarkozy publicly condemned the team’s actions, captain Thierry Henry was taken to the Elysée Palace, and the French parliament held a public hearing into the national team’s failures.
This ending is particularly complicated for Hong. As a player, he was one of the most important figures in the history of Korean soccer, serving as captain of the team in their historic run to the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup. However, his stints as a coach with the World Cup national team, first in 2014 and now in 2026, ended in disappointment in the group stage.
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There were security concerns about Hong’s return. Video footage from the airport at 4 a.m. showed that the situation was predictably rowdy, with fans waiting in the arrivals hall with offensive weapons.
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Surprisingly, this isn’t the first time Korean fans have literally thrown eggs at the home team.
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The World Cup may be over for South Korea, but it is clear that a very dramatic post-mortem has just begun.
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