SEOUL, July 09 (AJP) - Former South Korea head coach Hong Myung-bo issued a new public apology Thursday over the national team's early exit from the 2026 World Cup, saying he would appear before a parliamentary hearing if called and take full responsibility for the result.
The statement was released through the Hong Myung-bo Scholarship Foundation, a charity the 57-year-old 2002 World Cup hero himself chairs. It was made public on the day the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee voted to hold a hearing on issues surrounding the Korea Football Association and named Hong as a witness. The hearing is scheduled for July 22.
It was Hong's second public apology since South Korea was eliminated in the World Cup group stage on June 28. He resigned and apologized at a news conference in Mexico the following day, June 29, but took no questions and largely disappeared from public view afterward.
South Korea entered the final day of group play needing help from elsewhere after a 1-0 loss to South Africa on June 25 left the team with one win, two losses and a goal difference of -1. A late win by Uzbekistan over the Democratic Republic of Congo would have been enough to send South Korea through, and Uzbekistan led 1-0 before conceding three second-half goals to lose 3-1. A draw in a separate match between Algeria and Austria pushed South Korea's ranking among third-place finishers down further, and the team finished 10th among the group's third-place teams, one spot outside the eight that advanced to the round of 32 — South Korea's first group-stage exit from a World Cup in eight years.
In Thursday's statement, Hong again apologized to Korean football fans and said the responsibility for the result was his alone. "I failed to deliver the result people expected at the World Cup," Hong said. "All responsibility for that result belongs to me as head coach."
Hong said he had spent a long time considering what to say after stepping down. His first instinct, he said, was to accept the result and remain silent, since he believed the outcome was his to bear.
But he said that it became harder to justify as time passed, with claims not grounded in fact circulating as though they were true and players and staff who had worked alongside him getting caught up in speculation.
Hong also addressed criticism over his decision to leave for the United States just two days after returning to South Korea from the World Cup, a move that had fueled accusations that he was trying to dodge accountability.
"Staying in the United States was not a choice made to avoid or turn away from the result," he said. "There were threats against me and my family at the time, along with concerns about our safety, and I had to protect my family." He said he had not intended to avoid his responsibilities as head coach or avoid facing the public.
Hong closed the statement by turning to the hearing. He said that if the hearing is meant to explain the World Cup result to the public, then he should be the person standing there. "If a hearing is held, the person who should be there is me," he said. "I will answer every question without avoiding anything." Hong ended the statement with another apology, saying he would take every word of the public's criticism seriously.
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