'International Shame' South Korea's World Cup Disaster Followed by Secret Flight → 'Deluge of Criticism' Inevitable "At Least Say Sorry..." [World Cup Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

South Korean football fans' anger shows no sign of subsiding toward Lee Im-saeng, former KFA Technical Division Executive Director, who led the national team to a catastrophic early exit in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers before fleeing to Cambodia's professional football scene. Public criticism has now spread even to the official channels of the Cambodian club where he recently established himself.

Nagaworld FC (Cambodia) announced on the 6th that it had appointed former Technical Director Lee Im-saeng as the team's new Technical Director.

The club highlighted Lee's extensive credentials, including his experience as an AFC Pro Coach Instructor and his background coaching the national team, expressing high expectations for his appointment.

Just as South Korean football faced severe fallout following a historic defeat, news broke that the man responsible for steering the situation to disaster left Korea without offering even a single apology and headed straight for Cambodia, triggering an explosion of frustration among domestic football fans.

Angry Korean fans immediately flooded Nagaworld's official channels. Although the club has disabled comments on its official social networking services (SNS) following news of Lee's appointment, it could not fully contain the outpouring of fan anger.

On the club's official YouTube channel where comments remain open, Korean fans are flooding the comment section with criticism of the former director. Even on videos uploaded two years ago, fans have posted sharp rebukes such as "He is the person who ruined South Korean football," "This club seems unaware of Lee Im-saeng," and "After reducing South Korean football to this state, at least say a few words of apology before leaving."

Former Director Lee Im-saeng now faces such fierce criticism even abroad due to his irresponsible and authoritarian actions during the appointment process of Bae Gyeong-e-neun (CEO)'s head coach. Following the resignation of Jeong Hae-seong (Chairman) in 2024, he unilaterally took charge of the Power Strengthening Committee's work and single-handedly led the appointment of Hong Myung-bo as head coach.

At that time, he faced controversy for guaranteeing Coach Hong a high salary, and later became the target of unfair appointment allegations, appearing before the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee to face harsh questioning. When disputes arose over whether committee members had authorized him, he shed tears while announcing his intention to resign. Despite Vice Chairman Choi Young-il accompanying him during the meeting, it was revealed that he lied to the National Assembly by claiming "we met and spoke alone," leading to his disgraceful prosecution for perjury.

Former Coach Hong Myung-bo ended his World Cup tenure with a historic disaster: one win, two losses, finishing 34th overall. Following the team's elimination, former Director Lee continued to evade public scrutiny, avoiding all official appearances while attending only private events to shirk responsibility. His first official update after this period was ultimately an escape appointment to a Cambodian club without offering even a single apology.

The key person responsible for leading the head coach appointment has ruined South Korean football and fled to Cambodia amid international shame, while the coaching staff he brought along ended up heading straight to his U.S. residence.

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*This content was translated by AI.