President Lee Jae-myung spoke out about the Korea national soccer team's group-stage exit at the 2026 North and Central America World Cup. Lee defined this World Cup result as a "failure of organization and personnel" and emphasized introducing direct elections for sports bodies such as the Korea Football Association.
On the 28th, Lee shared a post by Minister Chae Hwi-young of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on X, saying, "If you value 'us versus them' over competence and pick an incompetent person as commander, the result is as plain as day."
He added, "As a former honorary professional soccer club head and a Red Devils supporter at heart, I feel not just surprised but dumbfounded by the unexpected result," and said, "In the end, it has once again been proven that personnel is everything."
Lee also said, "The failure to reach the World Cup finals that left the public deflated appears to stem from failures in organization and personnel," and added, "Since many taxpayers' won and national support resources are poured into World Cup participation, I ask the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) to thoroughly manage the accurate situation, cause analysis, and measures to prevent recurrence and improve matters in this incident."
He continued, "I instructed administrative guidance so that sports organizations such as the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) and the soccer association adopt direct elections by all relevant sportspeople, rather than a narrow indirect vote by a small number of delegates, and I understand this is being implemented well," and said, "We are very sorry for causing deep disappointment to the public with this absurd situation. We will swiftly push ahead with reforms in sports administration to prevent a recurrence."