The National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee will hold a hearing on the Korea Football Association on Thursday.
The committee will press the KFA on a range of governance issues, including the controversy surrounding the appointment of national team head coach Hong Myung-bo, in the wake of South Korea's group-stage exit at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North and Central America.
The hearing was originally scheduled for July 22 but was postponed once due to ongoing negotiations over committee assignments.
South Korea's failure to advance past the group stage — falling short of the round of 32 — drew wide public criticism and put the KFA under pressure to reform.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched a K-Football Innovation Committee to lead a restructuring of Korean football, and Jung Mong-gyu, who led the association for 13 years, has since resigned. Efforts to overhaul the organization, including reforms to the election system, are ongoing.
At the hearing, the appointment processes for former national team coaches Jurgen Klinsmann and Hong are expected to come under renewed scrutiny, with lawmakers likely to focus on broader administrative failures at the KFA.
Jung and Hong have both been called as witnesses, along with KFA Vice President Lee Yong-su and Executive Director Kim Seung-hee, among others. According to an MBN report Tuesday, both men confirmed to the committee that day that they would attend.
The committee has said it plans to question Hong on the legitimacy of his appointment process, the reasons behind the team's poor World Cup performance and his responsibility for match management, as well as the circumstances of his early return to South Korea and subsequent departure to the United States.
Park Ji-sung, co-chair of the K-Football Innovation Committee, and Korean Sport & Olympic Committee President Yoo Seung-min have been called as reference witnesses. Park has already indicated he will not attend; reference witnesses are not required to appear.
Two other witnesses — Lee Im-saeng, the KFA's former technical director (currently technical director at Cambodia's Nagaworld FC), and Park Hang-seo, former KFA vice president (currently head coach of Thai second-division club Kanchanaburi Power FC) — are also not expected to appear.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
