Journalist
Joonha Yoo유준하
joonhayoo94@ajupress.com
ReporterCOEX Sejong Center for the Performing Arts & Music, Culture, Entertainment, Automotive
Joonha Yoo is a bilingual journalist at AJU Press (AJP), covering music, culture, entertainment and Korea’s automotive industry.
Raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, he often writes from the scene, bringing firsthand detail to stories ranging
from BTS comeback concerts to unique cultural events that catch the world's eye. "I write from the scene, not from the sidelines."
Raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, he often writes from the scene, bringing firsthand detail to stories ranging
from BTS comeback concerts to unique cultural events that catch the world's eye. "I write from the scene, not from the sidelines."
Latest by Joonha Yoo
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NiziU releases first Japanese greatest hits album 'Portfolio' SEOUL, July 01 (AJP) - NiziU released its first Japanese greatest hits album, "Portfolio," at midnight Wednesday, the group's agency JYP Entertainment said Wednesday. The release came with a 2026 version of the music video for "Make You Happy," the group's pre-debut single. NiziU is a nine-member Japanese girl group formed through a joint project between JYP Entertainment and Sony Music. The 29-track compilation traces the group's activities since its pre-debut in July 2020. It includes the official debut single "Step and a Step," "Take a Picture," "CLAP CLAP," "Sweet Nonfiction," the Japanese version of Korean single "Love Line" and "Too Bad," the title track from NiziU's second Japanese EP. The new "Make You Happy" video shows the nine members performing the song again in 2026, reprising its signature jump-rope choreography. NiziU recently wrapped a sold-out solo arena tour, "NiziU Live with U 2026: NEW EvoNUtion," comprising 12 shows across five Japanese cities, according to JYP. The group also held its second dome tour, "NiziU Live with U 2026: NiziU THE CINEMA," at Kyocera Dome Osaka and Tokyo Dome in June. 2026-07-01 14:55:35 -
Netflix viewers are becoming Korea's newest tourists, data shows SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - South Korea's tourism boom in 2026 is increasingly being linked to something outside the traditional travel industry, what foreign viewers are watching at home. Foreign visitor arrivals surpassed 10 million by the third week of June, about a month earlier than 2025, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Arrivals from January through May totaled 8.72 million, up 21 percent from the same period in 2025. May alone brought 1.95 million visitors, up 19.4 percent year-on-year; China and Japan led the rankings that month, with 560,000 and 360,000 visitors respectively, followed by the Americas, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Foreign tourists' card spending in May, including online purchases, reached an estimated 2.1 trillion won ($1.6 billion), the first time monthly spending has topped 2 trillion won since record-keeping began in 2018. Arrivals through regional airports outside Incheon also climbed, reaching 360,000 in May, up 32 percent from a year earlier. A survey of 105 foreign visitors conducted by Han Jeong-hoon, head of K-Entertech Hub, suggests streaming content, particularly Netflix, has become one of the main ways younger travelers first encounter Korea. Ninety-eight percent of respondents said Netflix was their first exposure to Korean culture, and 85 percent said content was what first put the country on their radar. Around three-quarters of respondents were between 25 and 34, and 93 percent had been in Korea less than six months, suggesting the pattern is concentrated among younger, short-stay travelers rather than the broader tourist population. "Watching is just the start of the tour," Han said, presenting the findings Monday during a panel on "OTT tourism" at Yonsei University. The viewing habits behind those numbers are intense: 70 percent of respondents said they watched more than five hours of Korean content a week, and recent Netflix-distributed titles including "Culinary Class Wars" and "KPop Demon Hunters" came up repeatedly as gateways. About eight in 10 respondents said content influenced their decision to visit, and seven in 10 said they posted photos from their trip on Instagram, a loop Han described as self-reinforcing, with each wave of visitors generating content that pulls in the next. "K-content drives people not just to watch, but to come, eat, spend and tell others," Han said. The itineraries visitors described tracked closely with what they watched. Locations that appear repeatedly in Korean dramas and variety shows, including Myeongdong, Namsan Seoul Tower, Gyeongbokgung Palace, Nami Island, Gwangjang Market, Suwon, Siheung and parts of Busan, were named most often, alongside experiences like hanbok rentals, night markets and Han River outings that frequently appear on screen. Food interest followed the same pattern: dishes such as gimbap, bingsu and makgeolli saw spikes in interest tied to specific shows, with visitors from the Philippines showing especially high conversion from watching to visiting restaurants and filming locations. Where the pattern breaks down, Han said, is between interest and action. Plenty of viewers research a destination after watching a show, but stall before booking anything. Closing that gap, he argued, depends less on convincing people to want to visit Korea and more on making it easy to act on that interest, bundling content and travel together, building K-food-focused itineraries, mapping filming locations with transportation guidance and designing campaigns around the user-generated content fans already produce. He pointed to Britain's VisitBritain campaign around Harry Potter filming sites and the tourism bump Switzerland saw from "Crash Landing on You" as examples of governments getting ahead of content-driven demand rather than reacting after it goes viral. That kind of advance planning is already standard practice inside Netflix, even if the company frames it as marketing rather than tourism strategy. Kim Mi-hoo, director of marketing at Netflix Korea, told the same audience that campaigns for Korean titles are built with global audiences in mind from the earliest planning stages, not localized after a title takes off domestically, but designed from the start to travel. "Our goal is to create conversation," Kim said, describing campaigns that often begin before a show premieres, with release-date announcements, teasers, press events and fan-participation campaigns. For last year's "When Life Gives You Tangerines," that included online and offline fan contests tied to the show's themes, designed less to advertise the series than to give fans material and momentum to build a fandom around it themselves. "Word of mouth is more powerful than any advertisement," Kim said. "When a friend or family member tells you to watch something, that has a stronger impact." Netflix's Korean content also rides on a social media network Kim said reaches about 1.4 billion followers and generates roughly 224 billion organic views a year, scale that allows Korean titles to become global conversation points as fan-made clips, memes and reaction videos spread across platforms. "Stories that started in Korea are reaching the entire world," Kim said, "in ways we could not have imagined before." Taken together, the data suggests Korea's latest tourism wave is being shaped not only by concerts or government campaigns, but by shows foreign audiences are already watching before they ever start planning a trip. 2026-06-30 17:01:52 -
Seoul to roll out Korea's first Level 4 robotaxi service this fall SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - Seoul metropolitan government announced Tuesday that it will become the first city in South Korea to put a Level 4 autonomous taxi on the road, with the self-driving service set to launch in November in the Sangam neighborhood of Mapo District. The plan is part of a list of policy changes and public services the city has scheduled for the second half of 2026. The robotaxi will be available through a regular taxi-hailing app, allowing passengers to call the vehicle the same way they book any other taxi. Unlike earlier autonomous taxis tested in Seoul, which required a driver ready to take over at any moment, the new vehicles are designed to make driving decisions on their own under specific conditions, without direct human control. Level 3 systems, by comparison, still require a driver to remain ready to intervene at all times; Level 4 represents the step beyond that. The service will not start as a fully unmanned operation, however. A safety attendant will sit in the front passenger seat during the initial stage while the city monitors how the system performs on public roads. Once running, it will be the first Level 4 robotaxi service in the country, the city said. Sangam has served as Seoul's main proving ground for autonomous driving since 2019, when the city built a 5G-connected test bed along its roads. It has hosted paid autonomous taxi and shuttle services since 2021. The November launch marks the next step for a district the city has used for years to test self-driving technology before wider rollout. The robotaxi launch comes alongside several other transport and road safety changes planned across the city in the second half. By November, Seoul plans to complete road work in central Seoul, including narrower car lanes and wider sidewalks around Sogong-ro and Sejong-daero. The city also plans to remove a traffic island near Exit 8 of City Hall Station. Seoul is also rolling out new flood-safety tools this year. A navigation alert service warning drivers of flooded underpasses began in June, and AI-powered cameras designed to detect people entering streams closed off during heavy rain are scheduled to start operating in July. 2026-06-30 16:29:23 -
Korea Tourism Organization taps influencers to promote regional food tourism SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - The Korea Tourism Organization has launched a regional food tourism campaign with 33 overseas influencers as South Korea seeks to turn growing interest in Korean food into travel beyond Seoul. The state tourism agency, led by President Park Sung-hyuk, held a launch event for "K-Local Food Hunters 33" at Samcheonggak in Seoul on Monday. Through Thursday, the program will send participants to different regions to taste, film and share local dishes with audiences back home. Food and travel influencers from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Americas are taking part, with their combined following reaching about 21.3 million, according to the agency. The campaign is aimed at promoting regional Korean food and ingredients, with food remaining one of the biggest draws for foreign visitors to South Korea. On Monday in Seoul, the group took a Korean cooking class to recreate dishes seen in Korean dramas, visited a traditional tea house in Bukchon and tried Korean fried chicken at a branded chicken restaurant. The influencers then split into three groups for tours of Gangwon, Jeolla and Gyeongsang provinces. The Gangwon route centers on dishes shaped by mountains and coastline, such as chodang soft tofu, cold raw fish soup and spicy stir-fried chicken. In Jeolla, the focus shifts to tradition and fermentation, with stops for Jeonju bibimbap, fermented skate with pork and kimchi, Sunchang red pepper paste, Damyang grilled short rib patties and Gwangju-style pan-fried beef. The Gyeongsang leg covers regional staples including Andong braised chicken, Andong soju, Daegu-style raw beef and Busan pork soup. Each route also takes in nearby sights, from Jeonju Hanok Village to Andong Hahoe Village and Haeundae Blue Line Park in Busan. Participants are expected to post content from the tour on their own channels in real time, then continue introducing Korean regional food to their followers after they return home. "To turn interest in K-food into actual visits to Korea, we need specific content that helps travelers plan their routes," said Min Byung-sun, head of the tourism industry division at the Korea Tourism Organization. "We will promote attractive food tourism content by connecting regional Korean dishes with travel." The tour draws on the agency's "33 K-Local Gourmet Trips," a list curated in 2024 with input from experts including cartoonist Huh Young-man. The agency said it is using the list to push the image of Korean food beyond familiar staples like kimchi and bulgogi, spotlighting regional specialties instead. 2026-06-30 11:19:30 -
Korea unveils five-year plan to promote crafts as K-culture industry SEOUL, June 30 (AJP) - South Korea will seek to make traditional crafts a larger part of its cultural exports and tourism industry under a new five-year government plan announced Tuesday. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism released its second basic plan for promoting the craft culture industry, covering 2026 to 2030. The plan is built around four areas: production, distribution, public access and policy infrastructure, with the government aiming to raise the industry's annual revenue to 9 trillion won and exports to $4 billion by 2030. The ministry said the craft industry's revenue and exports grew significantly under the first five-year plan, but interest in Korean crafts is rising further as K-culture expands globally and more visitors seek hands-on cultural experiences in South Korea. At the same time, many craft makers still face limits in branding, sales channels and market data, making it difficult to turn creative work into stable business growth. On the production side, the government will support craft makers through training programs, residency projects using vacant local properties and business education tailored to different career stages. It will also train specialists such as exhibition guides and product planners to help connect craft artists with the market. The ministry also plans to create retail spaces in areas popular with foreign tourists, combining craft exhibitions, sales and hands-on programs. It will work with museums, department stores and online platforms to hold regular craft product promotions. The government will also expand the use of craft items as gifts from public institutions and as return gifts under the hometown donation program, a system that gives local products to citizens who donate to regional governments. The Craft Trend Fair, the country's largest craft market event, will be developed into a stronger business platform by connecting more makers with overseas buyers and corporate partners. Overseas promotion will be expanded through major international fairs, a permanent exhibition space in Dubai and Korean cultural centers abroad. The ministry also plans to link crafts with hotels and resorts as part of broader K-culture marketing efforts. To widen public access, Craft Week will be reorganized into a more focused cultural event in major cities, while traveling exhibitions will be held outside the Seoul metropolitan area. The ministry will also develop education programs under the idea of "one craft for every person," covering different age groups from children to older adults, along with healing and self-reliance programs for out-of-school youth and socially withdrawn young people. Over the longer term, the government plans to build a national craft center and regional craft clusters tailored to local characteristics. The plan also includes legal and tax measures. The ministry will pursue tax law revisions that would allow practical craft products to receive benefits similar to those given to fine art. It will also review exceptions to gift-value limits under the country's anti-graft law, and will seek to classify the craft industry as a separate category under the Korean Standard Industrial Classification while shortening its industry survey cycle from three years to two. To carry out the plan, the ministry will also restructure the Korea Craft and Design Foundation into a policy-driving organization and build a cross-ministry cooperation system with agencies including the Ministry of SMEs and Startups. Culture Minister Choi Hwi-young said global interest in K-culture is creating an opportunity for Korean crafts, which reflect the country's traditional sense of beauty. "We will carry out this second basic plan systematically so that crafts can become part of people's daily lives and grow into a high-value industry in the global market," Choi said. 2026-06-30 11:19:13 -
Korea's World Cup failure may force football to confront itself SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - The fury over South Korea's abrupt exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup is unlikely to subside with the voluntary exit of the head coach. Instead, it is increasingly building up to a fundamental overhaul of the country's notoriously insular sports bureaucracy. Hong Myung-bo resigned a day after Korea failed to reach the round of 32, but public anger has not stopped with the head coach. Instead, attention has shifted to the Korea Football Association (KFA), whose leadership and decision-making have faced years of criticism from fans, former players and politicians. The debate widened after President Lee Jae Myung publicly criticized the failure and called for reform in sports governance. His remarks turned what could have been another football disappointment into a broader question about how Korean sports organizations are run. Critics say the issue extends far beyond who coached Korea at the World Cup. It reaches into who appointed him, how he was selected and why the same questions continue to resurface every four years. The KFA declined to comment, saying it had no official position in response to questions from AJP. Korea's group-stage exit was painful, but the anger had been building long before the final whistle. For years, the KFA has faced criticism over a series of decisions that steadily eroded public trust. Jurgen Klinsmann's appointment ended in disappointment. His dismissal was followed by another disputed coaching search that brought Hong back to the national team despite questions over whether the process had been transparent and competitive. The association has also come under scrutiny over its attempted pardon of football figures involved in past match-fixing scandals, the handling of the national football center project and the long tenure of former KFA president Chung Mong-gyu. Taken individually, each controversy might be dismissed as an isolated mistake. Together, however, they have created a broader perception that Korean football's decision-making is too closed and that accountability rarely reaches the top. That perception explains why Hong's resignation has done little to calm public frustration. For many supporters, replacing the coach addresses only the final stage of a much deeper problem. Kim Chae-rin, a 30-year-old office worker from Seongnam, said the disappointment was especially painful because Korea had enough talent to achieve far more. "This was one of the strongest groups of players Korea has had in years," Kim said. "We know what players like Son Heung-min and Lee Kang-in can do because we've watched them succeed overseas." She said the issue went beyond tactics. "Changing the coach isn't enough," she said. "Fans have been questioning how decisions are made inside the football association for years. I hope this becomes an opportunity to make the system fairer and more transparent." One politically charged word has surfaced repeatedly in public debate surrounding the KFA: "cartel." The term should not be interpreted as a legal conclusion. Rather, its growing use reflects a public perception that a relatively small circle of insiders wields disproportionate influence over major decisions. A key focus of that criticism is the KFA's presidential election system. The association's president is chosen through an indirect voting process involving a limited group of electors, many of whom are affiliated with football organizations. Critics argue that such a structure makes it difficult for outside voices to challenge the existing leadership. Chung's fourth-term victory in 2025 reinforced those concerns. To critics, it demonstrated that the federation's internal power structure remained largely intact despite years of public dissatisfaction. That is why the current debate extends beyond Hong, Chung or any single appointment. At its core lies a more difficult question: whether Korean football has a system capable of correcting itself after repeated failures. Football is not alone The KFA is not the only Korean sports body facing questions over governance. Badminton came under scrutiny after Olympic champion An Se-young publicly criticized the national federation's athlete management, injury treatment and sponsorship restrictions. Her comments prompted a government review and opened a wider debate over how much influence athletes should have over decisions affecting their careers. Speed skating has also endured years of criticism over factional politics, opaque national team selection procedures and abuse scandals involving coaches. Those controversies further eroded public trust and reinforced the perception that some sports organizations had operated with too little transparency for too long. The details differ from sport to sport. The pattern, critics argue, is strikingly familiar: concentrated leadership, limited outside oversight, opaque decision-making and blurred accountability when things go wrong. For many Koreans, football has now become the latest and most visible example. Kim Soo-han, a 37-year-old brand designer from Incheon, welcomed the government's push for reform. "I watched every match with my son, so the elimination was especially painful," Kim said. "The players can only do so much. If the organizations supporting them aren't functioning properly, changing coaches alone won't solve the problem." The contrast with archery Korean archery provides a sharp contrast. The Korea Archery Association is widely regarded as one of the country's best-run sports organizations. Its national team selection process is highly competitive and overwhelmingly performance-based. Olympic champions receive no automatic places. Every athlete must repeatedly earn selection through transparent competition. That system has helped Korea dominate Olympic archery for decades and has made the sport a frequent reference point whenever other federations face questions about fairness and accountability. The comparison is uncomfortable for football. If one Korean federation can build a culture in which selection is transparent and merit-based, critics ask, why do others continue to rely on opaque processes and insider judgment? Football is larger, more commercial and more politically visible than archery. But that makes governance more important, not less. For many supporters, the disappointment was symbolized by Son Heung-min. In 2025, Son left Tottenham Hotspur after a decade to join Major League Soccer side Los Angeles FC. The move was widely reported as one of the league's biggest signings, while Korean media said he had declined more lucrative offers elsewhere, including from Saudi Arabia. Those figures should be treated carefully. Son did not forgo money he had already earned. But many in Korea viewed the move as part of his preparation for a North American World Cup, allowing him to adapt to local conditions, reduce the physical demands of European football and secure regular playing time ahead of what could have been one of the final major tournaments of his career. In footballing terms, the gamble yielded little reward. Korea exited after just three matches, and Son finished the tournament without a goal or an assist. His career will continue. But for many supporters, the tournament became a symbol of a larger frustration: one of Korea's strongest generations of players left the World Cup before it had the chance to demonstrate its full potential. Hong's resignation answers the most immediate question of responsibility. It does not answer the deeper one. Who approved the process that brought him back? What standards were applied? How much independence did technical officials actually have? Those questions matter less for assigning blame than for preventing a repeat. If the same leadership structures remain in place, critics argue, the next coaching search could easily produce the same controversy. President Lee's intervention suggests football could become part of a broader effort to reform sports governance. But meaningful reform is difficult because it challenges the internal networks that have shaped federation leadership for decades. Replacing a coach is easy. Reforming the system that appoints him is considerably harder. Korea's next World Cup cycle has already begun. The next debate is no longer simply about who will coach the national team. It is about whether the institutions behind it are prepared to change before the next tournament arrives. 2026-06-29 16:31:53 -
Hyundai, Kia win Cannes Lions bronze for child safety technology campaign SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - Hyundai Motor and Kia won a bronze award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for a campaign using vehicle safety technology to protect children near school buses, the companies said Sunday. The campaign, titled "Vision Pulse," received bronze in the Design: Use of Emerging Technology category. Cannes Lions, held annually in Cannes, France, is one of the world's leading advertising and creative industry festivals. This year's event drew more than 20,000 entries from 92 countries, according to Hyundai and Kia. The campaign showed how Hyundai and Kia applied ultra-wideband, shortened as UWB, technology to kindergarten shuttle buses to help drivers detect children and other road users nearby. UWB uses radio signals to identify the location of nearby objects in real time. In the Vision Pulse system, a vehicle's UWB module communicates with small UWB tags carried by children, pedestrians, cyclists or other road users. If the system detects a possible collision risk, it warns the driver. Hyundai and Kia said the technology causes little interference with other radio signals and can identify objects within about 10 centimeters at a range of roughly 100 meters, even in crowded urban intersections with many obstacles. For the campaign, the companies designed child-friendly UWB tags as key rings that can be attached to school bags. The tags also function as night lights, encouraging children to charge them before going to bed. The campaign video presented the technology as a way to reduce blind spots around school buses and improve safety for young children. According to Hyundai and Kia, the Cannes Lions jury recognized the campaign for using emerging technology to address a real safety problem and for connecting the system with the companies' existing digital key technology. The Vision Pulse campaign had previously won awards at The One Show and Spikes Asia earlier this year. Hyundai and Kia are also testing the technology in industrial settings. Since 2025, the companies have applied Vision Pulse to production lines at Kia's purpose-built vehicle conversion center in Hwaseong, south of Seoul, to help prevent collisions between forklifts and workers. Hyundai also signed an agreement with the Busan Port Authority last October to test the technology at Busan Port terminals and logistics sites. 2026-06-29 12:46:08 -
KOSDAQ nearly 7% higher ahead of major infrastructure spending SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) -South Korea's junior KOSDAQ index stole the limelight amid broad retreat in Asia, gaining more than 6 percent Monday morning on expectations of the government's unveiling of mega industrial projects led by Samsung Electronics and SK Group expected to announce private-sector investments that could exceed 1 quadrillion won over the next decade. President Lee Jae Myung is set to chair a national briefing later in the day outlining the projects, which center on semiconductor fabrication plants, large-scale artificial intelligence data centers and physical AI and robotics. Samsung Electronics and SK Group are expected to announce investment plans spanning the next 10 years as part of the initiative. The KOSDAQ rose 6.1 percent to 903.4 after moving between an intraday high of 907.69 and a low of 859.33. The sharp rally triggered a buy-side sidecar during the session. Institutions bought 280.8 billion won ($182.6 million) worth of shares and foreign investors purchased 28.8 billion won, while retail investors sold a net 297.5 billion won. Biotech and battery stocks led the advance. Ecopro soared 17.3 percent to 111,900 won, D&D Pharmatech jumped 19.8 percent to 93,100 won, LG Energy Solution climbed 10.8 percent to 367,000 won, Samsung SDI gained 8.7 percent to 494,500 won and SK Eternix surged 23.2 percent to 53,200 won. The benchmark KOSPI, however, fell 2 percent to 8,243.4 after moving between an intraday high of 8,334.78 and a low of 8,127.99, as foreign investors continued heavy selling in semiconductor heavyweights. Retail investors bought 1.82 trillion won worth of shares and institutions purchased 985.7 billion won, while foreign investors sold 2.91 trillion won. Samsung Electronics dropped 4.7 percent to 323,500 won and SK hynix fell 4 percent to 2,567,000 won. SK Square lost 6.6 percent to 1,607,000 won. Among gainers, Samsung Electro-Mechanics rose 3.8 percent to 206,800 won, Hyundai Motor added 1.1 percent to 485,750 won, Doosan Enerbility climbed 5.2 percent to 85,300 won and Daehan Electric Wire advanced 9.4 percent to 33,900 won. Among sectors, life science tools and services led gains with a 12.6 percent increase, followed by healthcare technology, up 11.4 percent, and leisure equipment and products, up 11.3 percent. Lithium-related shares rose 11.2 percent, while cord blood-related stocks climbed 10.2 percent. The Korean won weakened 0.04 percent to 1,537.9 per dollar. Elsewhere in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.6 percent to 68,925.4, while China's Shanghai Composite slipped 0.2 percent to 4,019.56. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.8 percent to 22,846.40. 2026-06-29 10:48:42 -
Hong Myung-bo makes disgraceful exit after Korea's earliest-ever World Cup exit SEOUL, June 29 (AJP) - South Korean football coach Hong Myung-bo resigned on Sunday after the country's earliest-ever World Cup exit, becoming the first coach in national team history to leave following failures at two separate tournaments. Hong stepped down a day after South Korea was eliminated in the group stage of the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup, ending the country's run of five consecutive appearances in the knockout stage dating back to 2018 and consigning it to its lowest-ever World Cup finish. The 57-year-old announced his resignation at the team's training base in Zapopan, near Guadalajara, Mexico. "A head coach cannot put any explanation ahead of results," Hong told reporters. "I came here today to speak about responsibility, not explanations." "I failed to deliver the result the public expected. The responsibility lies with me." South Korea finished third in Group A after beating Czechia 2-1 before suffering consecutive 1-0 defeats to co-host Mexico and South Africa. The team needed other results to fall its way to claim one of eight wildcard places reserved for the best third-place finishers, but ultimately ranked 10th among the 12 third-placed teams. The campaign ended with South Korea placed 34th overall in the tournament's first 48-team edition — the worst finish in the country's World Cup history. Under the previous 32-team format, such a result would have meant failing even to qualify for the knockout stage. He had been under contract through the 2027 Asian Cup. Sunday's resignation came roughly six months early. "I asked myself the same question for the past two years, is this choice good for Korean football," Hong said of his approach to the job. "Not every decision I made was right, but Korean football was always my standard." That mixed record showed on the field. Hong's side went unbeaten through the final round of World Cup qualifying, winning six and drawing four. But pre-tournament friendlies told a different story: a 5-0 loss to Brazil, a 4-0 loss to Ivory Coast. The pressure on Hong was building even before the team reached Mexico. Hong previously took South Korea to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the team went out with one draw and two losses. No other coach has led South Korea into two World Cups, a distinction that now bookends two tournaments in which he failed to get out of the group stage. 2026-06-29 07:47:37 -
Fans Create a World Cup Atmosphere Outside the Stadiums Some moments linger longer than goals. After Norway defeated Senegal 3-2, Erling Haaland immediately turned to the stands. As Martin Ødegaard began to beat a drum, Haaland mimicked rowing motions, prompting the crowd to follow suit in unison. This was the so-called "Viking Row," a gesture reminiscent of Viking warriors rowing their ships. This moment was neither a goal, a tackle, nor a crucial save. However, it spread rapidly on social media, gaining traction as quickly as the match highlights due to its simplicity and intensity. At the same time, a different kind of cheering culture was emerging in South Korea. The YouTube channel "Soccer Will Be the Music" created an AI cheer song that combined a Portuguese chant with Korean slogans, amassing over 1.6 million views in just two months. On Instagram, more than 1,700 reels featuring this audio were uploaded, with one dance team's video reaching 9 million views, 636,000 likes, and 95,000 shares. In Dallas, after England's 4-2 victory over Croatia, around 20,000 fans remained in their seats, singing Oasis's "Wonderwall" at the top of their lungs. This Britpop classic, released in 1995, saw a 50% increase in Spotify streams in the UK within days, with a remastered version generating 1.71 million plays in a single day. At the 2026 World Cup, cheering has evolved into a form of content that is filmed, edited, and shared just as much as the matches themselves. Norway's "Viking Row" requires no song, lyrics, or prior knowledge. Fans simply need to move in rhythm. Spectators sit in a boat-like formation, rowing in time with the drumbeat. They shout "ro (row)" in Norwegian and erupt in cheers at the climax. Inspired by Iceland's "Viking Clap" from the 2016 Euro, this cheer has spread beyond the stadium to escalators, subways, Times Square, and even the Norwegian Parliament, as it requires no words. The trend began before the tournament. Videos of Norwegian lawmakers mimicking the Viking Row garnered 140,000 views, while a clip of Haaland leading the cheer after the victory over Senegal reached 210,000 views. An AP video capturing the crowd in Times Square surpassed 170,000 views. What these videos have in common is that none feature actual game footage. Instead, they showcase cheering moments created before or after the match that spread rapidly on TikTok and Instagram. The national team has actively fostered this atmosphere. Returning to the finals for the first time in 28 years since 1998, Norway released a Viking-themed photo shoot before the tournament. The entire squad, including Haaland, who scored 16 goals in eight European qualifying matches, donned helmets, shields, and armor for the shoot. The football media outlet 433 shared the photo on X, stating, "Norway's World Cup group shot is truly impressive," while Haaland posted his Viking image with the caption "Viking blood." However, not everyone welcomed this concept. The Norwegian daily Aftenposten reported criticism that the warrior image was overly masculine and exclusive. The Norwegian Football Association explained that the intention was to emphasize community spirit, courage, and solidarity. The singalong of England's "Wonderwall" was no coincidence. The singalong of England's "Wonderwall" differed from Norway's approach. It was not merely a gesture but a matter of shared memory and not entirely spontaneous. For this World Cup, all participating countries submitted pre-approved playlists in collaboration with fan groups. England's selections included "Wonderwall," along with The Beatles' "Hey Jude" and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline." "Wonderwall" was already playing in the stadium before the match. However, no one anticipated the reaction that followed the game. Formed in Manchester in 1991, Oasis is a defining band of the Britpop era. "Wonderwall" encapsulates the sentiment of a generation that believed British music could conquer the world, surpassing 1.7 billion streams on Spotify. The 20,000 fans singing this song in Dallas was not just a simple singalong; it was a moment where memories shared across generations came alive in the stadium. Players, including Jude Bellingham, were seen singing along, and captain Harry Kane described it as "one of my favorite moments in an England shirt." The timing was also perfect. Oasis had just completed a reunion tour after more than a decade in 2025. The Gallagher brothers even took notice of the Dallas footage. Noel told The Sun, "'Wonderwall' is now the people's song," while Liam remarked on X after Spotify reported a 50% surge in streams that the song is a "classic" and that he sang it "BIBLICAL-ly." South Korea's AI cheer song emerged outside the stadium first. The South Korean example presents a different narrative, perhaps illustrating where fan culture is headed in the future. While Norway and England's cheering moments originated in the stadium and spread online, South Korea's AI cheer song was created online first and then made its way to the stadium. Since 2002, the chant "Dae-han-min-guk" and the Red Devils' street cheering have become symbols of South Korean football identity. This tournament has added a new layer to that identity. During the match against the Czech Republic, real-time population data indicated that between 12,000 and 14,000 people gathered in Gwanghwamun Square. For the match against Mexico, at least 18,000 fans showed up, prompting organizers to secure additional cheering space. With the addition of the AI cheer song, even overseas creators unrelated to South Korea began making their own videos using this audio. Now, this song serves not just as a cheer but as a material for creating content. Lee Seong-ho, a 35-year-old restaurant owner in Gangnam, has been observing these changes on his phone for weeks before joining the street cheering for the Mexico match in Gwanghwamun. "In the past, we would chant 'Dae-han-min-guk' to the beat of a big drum or sing 'Oh, victory Korea' together. But now, social media plays a much larger role. Foreigners are mimicking Korean cheers, and videos supporting the Korean team are continuously being uploaded. It's a sight we rarely saw before." His first encounter with the AI cheer song was also by chance. "The first video I saw featured a Latina woman doing Korean-style face painting. The painting stages changed with the beat, and I found it stuck in my head. Later, I searched for it. It felt like someone had really put effort into creating it." Ultimately, they all share a common language. At first glance, the three examples seem entirely different. However, the way they spread on social media is remarkably similar: short, intense, collective, and easy to replicate. Meaning is conveyed in seconds, making them easily digestible and shareable. The key now is not how loudly the crowd cheers but how far that moment spreads once it leaves the stadium. The Viking Row requires no explanation. It’s a gesture that can be mimicked immediately upon seeing it. Conversely, "Wonderwall" requires context to resonate. The emotions of Oasis, Britpop, and the England fans who already cherished the song must all come together for the moment to be complete. South Korea's AI cheer song operates differently, drawing in even those unfamiliar with Korean football because the audio is designed for anyone to use. Cheering once focused solely on the players and the moment in the stadium. Now, that focus has shifted beyond the stadium, reaching even the screens of those who were not in the stands and may not have even watched the game.* This article has been translated by AI. 2026-06-26 08:04:00