[Reporter's Eye] Even worse than South Africa match

[Reporter's Eye] Even worse than South Africa match — KFA hearing

Aug 04, 2026, 09:11 am

During the 2022 Qatar World Cup, a Korea Research survey found that 73% of respondents said the tournament made them "feel proud to be Korean." The World Cup is a competition the entire nation watches with genuine affection.

But watching the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee's hearing on the Korea Football Association (KFA) on the 30th of last month, I felt doubly disappointed — both as a political reporter and as a soccer fan.

At the North/Central America World Cup, Korea suffered the disappointing result of a group-stage exit. To properly prepare for the next four years, we first need to establish what went wrong. I had hoped this hearing would be the starting point, but the National Assembly instead delivered a performance more sigh-inducing than the 90 minutes against South Africa.

Lee Im-saeng, the former technical director at the center of the controversy, announced his appointment as technical director for a Cambodian club just three days before the hearing was confirmed. By citing his overseas job to avoid being summoned domestically, the person who knows the full story behind the controversy over head coach Hong Myung-bo's appointment was absent when the hearing began.

An even bigger problem was that lawmakers failed to properly question even the KFA officials who did show up.

During the hearing, People Power Party Rep. Yoon Yong-geun texted former KFA president Chung Mong-gyu: "I heard from senior Chung yesterday. I'm sorry I should have been more considerate." Chung replied, "Thank you for your concern. I'll greet you properly somewhere other than this setting." In effect, the person meant to be scrutinizing had apologized to the one being scrutinized.

Asked whether the "senior Chung" mentioned in the text referred to former presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk, Chung Mong-gyu avoided the question at first before effectively confirming it, saying, "We were in the same college, but he was a year ahead of me." Chung Jin-suk also happens to be the former lawmaker for Yoon's district of Gongju-Buyeo-Cheongyang, South Chungcheong Province — a connection difficult to dismiss as mere personal acquaintance.

The questioning itself was equally dismal. Democratic Party Rep. Choi Min-hee played a YouTube video showing Lee Kang-in protesting to coach Kim Jin-kyu during a hydration break in the second half of the South Africa match. The video's captions suggested Lee was calling for a certain player to come in.

Rep. Choi interpreted this as a demand to bring in Son Heung-min, raising suspicions that coach Hong Myung-bo had made retaliatory substitution decisions. But Son had already been on the pitch since the start of the second half. Coach Kim's response revealed that the player Lee had actually been asking for was someone else entirely — not who the captions suggested. Both the premise of the question and the video's captions were wrong.

The key witness was absent, and the remaining witnesses faced questions and scolding built on unverified facts. The association, the National Assembly, the ruling party, and the opposition all failed this hearing, each for their own reasons.

Korea Research conducted the same survey after this World Cup. This time, only 20% said they felt proud to be Korean.

The National Assembly has warned it will summon the absent witnesses again at the upcoming parliamentary audit. If some who should answer were missing this time, lawmakers should at least properly question those who did show up. Verifying facts and digging into the core issues is the basic job of a hearing.

I hope lawmakers come properly prepared for the next parliamentary audit. If there's no meaningful difference from this hearing, the public will be disappointed all over again.

Shim Jun-bo

#South Africa #World Cup #KFA