"Emergency" Hong Myung-bo's World Cup Hong Myung-bo Team and 2.1km, this situation... An angry cartel demonstration of 'killing the drug king' → 'chaos' on a burning bus

*This content was translated by AI.

The safety of the South Korean national soccer team led by head coach Hong Myung-bo is worrisome. The president of the country where the World Cup finals will be held has even made an official statement.

The Guardian, a British media outlet, reported on the 25th (Korea time) that "Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that there was no danger to World Cup visitors despite retaliatory violence that occurred after the death of drug king El Mencho."

Putting together overseas reports, President Sheinbaum said in a daily press conference on Tuesday that "it is getting ready to host the World Cup," and stressed that "the situation in Halisco is gradually returning to normal."

The atmosphere in Mexico, one of the 2026 FIFA North-China World Cup hosts, is somewhat confusing. There was bloodshed in which the Mexican government killed the head of a drug cartel.

It is even known that there was a fierce battle between the military and the cartel near Guadalajara, where the Korean national team played two group games. Therefore, concerns about the safety of Hong Myung-bo Team are deepening.

First of all, FIFA urgently started to settle the mood. "Everything is fine," FIFA President Gianni Infantino told reporters in Barranquilla, Colombia. "The World Cup will be fantastic," he said, defending the current situation in Mexico.

However, the situation there is far from the president's boast. According to the Guardian, shortly after the Mexican military killed Nemesio Ruben Osegura Cervantes (El Mencho), the head of the Jalisco Next Generation Cartel (CJNG), early last weekend, cartel members blocked about 100 major roads and attacked National Guard bases across Mexico. At least 59 people, including 25 soldiers and 34 cartel members, were killed in the process.

In particular, the safety of the South Korean national team led by head coach Hong Myung-bo is on alert. Guadalajara, where South Korea will play two World Cup games, is a large city in Jalisco, the center of the bloodshed. In addition, according to the Guardian, the F1 stadium Cartodromo Czech Perez, where the cartel blocked the road with a burning bus, is only 2.1 kilometers away from Estadio Acron, where the Korean national team will play.

There is also precedent. In the Mexican soccer community, a shootout outside the Estadio Corona in August 2011 caused players and fans to hide under the locker room and seats. Currently, cartels are known to have military-level weapons capable of shooting down helicopters.

"Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta, which had been closed, have been gradually opening since this week," the Guardian said of Mexico's local atmosphere. "However, the US government has advised its citizens to wait indoors, and Canada is canceling flights to Mexico."

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*This content was translated by AI.