Hwang Hyun-pil. [YouTube]
Hwang Hyun-pil. [YouTube]

Amid the shock of South Korea's group-stage exit at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America, history lecturer Hwang Hyun-pil has drawn attention by comparing national team head coach Hong Myung-bo to Won Gyun, a general from the Imjin War era.

Hwang posted a video titled "Hong Myung-bo, the Won Gyun of football" to his YouTube channel, analyzing what he described as parallels between the historical figure and the coach.

"Won Gyun was given a critical post not through ability but through the protection of power, and he repeatedly made poor judgments that pushed his entire organization into crisis," Hwang said. "Coach Hong showed a similar pattern in the way he managed the national team."

Hwang said the problems began with the selection process itself. He argued that internal networks and the Korea Football Association's decision-making structure carried more weight than merit or results, and that handing the job to a coach who had already experienced failure was itself the problem. During the World Cup, he added, Hong also lacked the tactical flexibility and squad rotation needed to adapt, and ultimately led the team to an early exit.

Hwang went on to say that the issue extends beyond Hong as an individual. "Unless the KFA's coaching appointment system and its accountability structure — the very things that allow the same flawed decisions to be repeated — are changed, the same failures will keep happening," he said.


yeonjoo7@heraldcorp.com