Soccer commentator Park Moon-sung made a determined statement in front of Korea Football Association President Chung Mong-gyu regarding the controversy over the appointment of Hong Myung-bo as national team coach, saying, “It is right for the Chung Mong-gyu regime to end.”
On the 24th, while appearing as a reference for the National Assembly Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee’s current affairs inquiry, Commissioner Park criticized, “They have no awareness of the problem and no ability to empathize. They also have no ability to solve it.”
When Commissioner Park spoke, Chairman Jeong and Director Hong were sitting in front of him as witnesses.
Commissioner Park mentioned the appointment process of former coach Jurgen Klinsmann, saying, “The power reinforcement committee was called on the same day, the notice was given on the same day, and an announcement was made 30 minutes later,” and “Even though everyone said it was dangerous, coach Hwang Sun-hong, who had to lead the Paris Olympics, was forced to serve concurrently as the interim coach (for the A match).”
He continued, “In the end, we failed to advance to the Paris Olympics, and this situation even extended to coach Hong Myung-bo,” and pointed out, “This kind of incompetence, unprincipledness, and unfairness will only continue to repeat itself as long as the current Chung Mong-gyu regime continues.”
Commissioner Park said, “It seems like (Chairman Jeong and Director Hong) are not paying attention.” “The reason is that Chairman Chung and Director Hong have lived lives that are somewhat different from those of ordinary people,” he said. He continued, “(Chairman Chung) was born into a family of a large corporation, and (Director Hong) grew up as a top elite since childhood. I thought, ‘That’s why they think differently from ordinary people. That’s why they don’t pay attention to our feelings.’” He expressed his personal opinion.
He also said, “Secondly, it is because people cannot specifically intervene in the Korea Football Association,” and “For example, we cannot intervene at all in the Korea Football Association’s personnel authority. No matter how much the people and fans chant ‘Chung Mong-gyu out, Hong Myung-bo out’ at the stadium, the association’s position is ‘So what are we going to do?’”
He added, “Because we don’t pay attention to the situation, we don’t even feel that these many problems are problems,” and “We need to open up this closed organization.”
The controversy over the appointment of the national soccer team coach began with the appointment of Jurgen Klinsmann. Jurgen Klinsmann, who was appointed as the successor to Paulo Bento, was known to have been personally selected by Chairman Chung Mong-gyu.
Afterwards, despite the skills of players who were considered top-notch, such as Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-in, and Kim Min-jae, they were criticized for shockingly being eliminated in the quarterfinals of the ‘2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup’ held in Qatar in February. In particular, criticism grew louder when it was revealed that they had been attending the team’s training schedule via video conference instead of directly participating in it.
The Korea Football Association fired Coach Klinsmann and appointed Coach Hong Myung-bo as the new head coach of the national team through the Strengthening Committee, but the controversy did not end. The controversy grew when former Committee member Park Joo-ho revealed on his YouTube channel that “there were problems with the process.” Even Lee Chun-soo, Lee Young-pyo, and Park Ji-sung, who played with Coach Hong Myung-bo during the 2002 World Cup, raised their voices in criticism.
2024-09-26 15:06:24