South Korea, the 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists, won only one match at the World Cup, 2-1 over the Czech Republic, and after three days of waiting, their hopes of becoming one of the eight best third-place teams to advance to the round of 16 disappeared.
Unpopular national team coach Hong Myung-Bo benched star veteran Son Heung-Min in the final group game against South Africa, a 1-0 loss.
"When loyalty and factionalism are valued more than competence, and incompetent people are put in senior leadership positions, the result is inevitable. I apologise profusely to our audience," South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung wrote on X, promising changes "so that something like this never happens again."
Later on Sunday, Hong Myung-Bo announced at a press conference at South Korea's World Cup base in Mexico that he was resigning, several media outlets reported.
