Key figures in the Korean soccer community, who have no wind due to controversy over the appointment of the national team coach, will stand in front of lawmakers.
The National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee will hold a question on pending issues at 10 a.m. on the 24th.
This is a question of pending issues in the wake of the controversy over the appointment of Hong Myung-bo as coach of the national soccer team and Ahn Se-young (Samsung Life Insurance), a gold medalist in badminton at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
At the Korea Football Association, Chairman Chung Mong-kyu and head coach Hong, Lee Im-saeng, technical director of the Korea Football Association who chose Hong, and three others will go to the National Assembly as witnesses.
Jeong Hae-sung, former chairman of the National Power Reinforcement Committee, who suddenly resigned at the end of the coach’s appointment process, and Park Joo-ho, a former member of the National Power Reinforcement Committee who raised the issue of Hong’s appointment process through his YouTube channel, were also adopted as witnesses.
The committee also called Kim Dae-up, the technical director of the Korea Football Association, and Park Moon-sung, a commentator who has been critical of the KFA’s administration, as a reference.
Chairman Jeon Jae-soo and other members of the political affairs committee are expected to focus on whether there is a problem in the process of appointing Hong, who caused the biggest controversy.
Hong, who led professional soccer Ulsan HD, took the helm of the national team in July, replacing Jurgen Klinsmann, who was dismissed due to his poor performance at the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup.
Most fans who expected competent foreign coaches were greatly disappointed with the results of the six-month appointment of directors.
As for Hong, it was pointed out that the appointment process was not fair, such as not conducting interviews and presentations, and the controversy that spread with the anger of fans has not subsided even after two months of the coach’s appointment. 안전놀이터
Recently, an agent claimed on social networking services (SNS) that the Korea Football Association ignored it and appointed Hong by giving him a higher salary even though a number of overseas coaches, including Erbernard, delivered their intention to apply.
The members of the political affairs committee received data from the Korea Football Association, including the minutes of the power reinforcement committee’s meeting, which took place 11 times, and looked into the process of appointing Hong.
Jin Jong-oh, a lawmaker of the People’s Power who runs the National Information Center for Corruption in Sports and Culture Committee, said, “I received a tip that the process for selecting the national soccer team coach was not fair. We plan to raise the issue based on data and evidence,” signaling a sharp attack.
Meanwhile, high-ranking officials of the Korea Football Association reportedly considered only Chung and Lee attending the National Assembly to “protect” Hong.
However, Hong wanted to “break through the head-on.” Hong has been preparing for the answer since the end of the away match of the third Asian qualifying round for the 2026 North-China World Cup against Oman on Saturday.
In addition to the controversy over the appointment of Hong, the committee is also expected to question whether Chung will seek his fourth consecutive term and whether the Korea Football Association opened a negative bank account worth 60 billion won without approval from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the process of building the Cheonan Football Center.
Witnesses who participate in the questioning of the pending issue will make a witness declaration. If the remarks are found to be perjury, they can be punished.
