"Hong Myung-bo's son, did you go to the army?" → "No, I respected their choice"... Why such a question at the hearing?

*This content was translated by AI.

A National Assembly hearing convened to determine responsibility for the South Korean national team's failure in the group stage of the 2026 North American World Cup has devolved into an irrelevant investigation into personal privacy, drawing fierce criticism. Overseas media outlets have also highlighted that the South Korean National Assembly is launching unreasonable attacks against the former national team coach.

On the 31st, Japanese media outlet 'CocoKARA' focused intensively on scenes from the National Assembly Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee hearing on the Korea Football Association held on the 30th, asking, "What does this question have to do with football?"

'CocoKARA' pointed out that "amidst lingering repercussions of the South Korean national team's crushing defeat at the World Cup under global scrutiny, the National Assembly hearing has degenerated into a process of ideological vetting and crucifying the former coach."

In fact, on the 30th, the hearing site intended to expose the Korea Football Association's flawed administrative system and procedural breakdown turned into an investigation into personal family matters. Deputy Cho Gye-won of the Democratic Party of Korea suddenly raised the military service issues of Hong Myung-bo's two sons during questioning. Jo (Rep.) pressed, "Your two sons were born in 1998 and 2000; did they serve in the army?" When former coach Hong replied, "They did not serve. I had no choice but to respect their decisions," Jo (Rep.) continued with personal questions, asking, "Do you plan to encourage your children to fulfill their military obligations?"

Following this, when Jo (Rep.) strongly criticized, saying, "This is why the public is disappointed in Coach Hong Myung-bo. Isn't there too much discrepancy between appearance and reality?", criticism erupted not only within the football community but also among the general public that the hearing had obscured its true purpose. This is because whether former coach Hong's children, reportedly born in the United States, fulfilled their military service obligations has no connection whatsoever to verifying the Korea Football Association's incompetent administration or identifying the causes of poor World Cup performance.

In response to such unreasonable questioning by the National Assembly, reactions from fans and the public turned cold. 'CocoKARA', citing Korean media, reported on the anger of Korean fans: "What connection does it have that the coach's children did not serve in the army and the team performed poorly?" and "This is a clear violation of privacy and nothing more than a political show to tarnish reputations." Football fans are pouring out fierce criticism against the unreasonable questioning by the political sphere that obscured the core issue through personal attacks.

Regarding this incident, Japanese media stated, "The sight of being summoned by the National Assembly and having one's private life exposed and interrogated simply because the national team failed to achieve results at the World Cup is an abnormal trend that cannot be found in the Japanese football community." As the National Assembly hearing, which was supposed to thoroughly investigate the overall chaos within the Football Association, has degenerated into a scene of personal insults and character assassination against the former coach, voices criticizing the political sphere are growing louder.

This questioning by the National Assembly also came under intense scrutiny through another report by Japanese media. On the 30th, Japanese outlet 'Daily' extensively covered news about the National Assembly hearing related to the South Korean national football team, calling it a "hellish hearing."

Citing domestic reports, 'Daily' conveyed that during the hearing, Deputy Choi Min-hee of the Democratic Party of Korea claimed that coach Hong Myung-bo retaliated by excluding key players Son Heung-min and Lee Jae-sung from the starting lineup in the final match against South Africa. In fact, Choi (Rep.) pressured coach Kim Jin-kyu, saying, "This is the National Assembly; you must not commit perjury." When the coach denied this, Choi (Rep.) continued to interrogate, stating, "Football fans believe that Son Heung-min and Lee Jae-sung not playing was the reason for the loss. So why did we lose?"

In response, Coach Kim explained, "Various situations occur during matches; I do not think we lost simply because two players were absent." 'Daily' added that Korean media also reacted with disbelief regarding this line of questioning.

Reactions from netizens in Japan were equally cold. Japanese netizens who viewed the article expressed on 'Yahoo Japan': "It is insane to interrogate the causes of victory or defeat in sports matches at the National Assembly; doing such things is why the gap with the world continues to widen," and "The question 'Why did we lose?' serves only the purpose of an outsider obsessively digging for someone to blame, having no real meaning."

Other netizens noted, "It's surprising that the National Assembly seriously asks the national team coach why they lost," "This is unimaginable in Japan," and "Seeing this kind of behavior, even Koreans will not want to take on the role of the next national team coach, and foreign coaches will also avoid taking the position."

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*This content was translated by AI.