Internal Leak: The Outbreak of Fury in Korean Football
I'd hopped on the massive wave of the European transfer market—Dukbae heading to Napoli, Wirtz to Liverpool—and paused to check the Korean news on my tablet.
The Korean football scene was just as devastated as the transfer window.
On the screen, Lee Jinhak stood sweating in front of the mic.
"...Appointing Coach Yoon Seungwoo was the best choice to maintain the continuity and philosophy of our football. I personally went to his home at 11 p.m. to persuade him and confirmed his sincerity. All responsibility lies with me. Blame me."
What the hell...? Blame him for what? So, because the Power Strengthening Committee picked a coach, but not a foreigner, but a Korean, and that Korean was Yoon Seungwoo who failed ten years ago? Why was this guy begging for abuse? Just announce the pick and move on. Why provoke the public with this apologetic gesture, handing them justification to hurl stones?
...On the other hand, it showed how terrifying the public was. To him, at least. Not to me.
I sighed. This gave the masses the right to throw stones. An organization like the association shouldn't be like this. I'd thought they were finally finding their center, but history was repeating itself.
Key phrases from the press conference flooded the headlines. #11PMInterview #KoreanFootballPeculiarity #LeeJinhakTears
The communities were boiling over again like frothing pots.
Lounging diagonally on the bed, I scrolled through the comments, peering into each one of the public's rage. What problems were they pointing out? What "procedure" did they mean? What "system" were they talking about? I mulled it over.
Why were they so furious? Why all the chatter about the coach appointment? To stop Korean football's collapse, I had to pinpoint this angry mob's rage—the same mob that caused it. Was their anger form like the 2008 mad cow disease protests, born from misinterpretation? Or media incitement? Only by understanding could I prevent the downfall.
Above all, I couldn't comprehend their fury at all. My points of enmity toward the association were worlds apart from theirs. Why were they silent on what enraged me and raging at weird shit instead? I calmly tried to dissect every bit of their anger.
Then a new breaking story dropped. An internal leak from a Power Strengthening Committee member.
I set the tablet down, stared at the ceiling, and muttered to myself.
What the fuck is this now?
"Why the hell should you, a committee member, need to know?"
Everyone knew that after Seo Taeyoung stepped down as chair, Lee Jinhak was acting chair. The acting chair is the decision-maker. It's like the VP signing off when the president's away—why whine that the employees didn't get your permission?
Some committee members were misinterpreting their role and authority. The committee recommends candidates, discusses and opines on them—but that means they have no final appointment power. If they did, why have a chair? Why appoint Lee Jinhak at all?
The leaked article mentioned three final candidates. That meant the committee had already discussed and narrowed it to three. Their job was done. Then Seo Taeyoung resigned, and the association announced full delegation of the three to Lee Jinhak.
Reviewing those three was Lee Jinhak's role. So what was this "solo decision" bullshit? What was this guy trying to say? Was he throwing a tantrum because his recommended coach wasn't picked?
But the controversy didn't stop there. Soon, a sharp analytical piece dug into legal and administrative procedures.
The article's point was clear: Lee Jinhak claimed full delegation, but no association bylaw allowed the technical director to unilaterally inherit the Power Strengthening Committee's functions. Everything he did could be the governance of an unauthorized person.
I narrowed my eyes, sorting the situation in my head. Confirming the public's rage points and media attack angles, it boiled down to three.
Public and Media Rage
First: System collapse. They demanded tactical notes from foreign coaches but gave Yoon Seungwoo a free pass on "sincerity"—some intangible bullshit. Fuck fairness.
Second: Abuse of authority. Hid behind "acting" title to skip committee deliberation.
Third: The ultimate shitshow. Or rather, pure rage.
"...What a clusterfuck."
I got their anger—it wasn't logical. They didn't know their own rage form, so it came out one-sided, like mad cow disease. Informed vs. ignorant rage is different. When has rage ever been logically justified? It was just excretion.
Now was the time to unpack the rage frame the public had latched onto.
Manchester's damp air seeped in through the window. Must be why it rains so much here.
The Football Association responded to the public and media fury with a statement titled Addressing the Controversy. They rebutted point by point.
1. Fact Check: Lee Jinhak's Authority.
From a legal and administrative perspective, the situation holds the following legitimacy.
Authority Delegation: Seo Taeyoung resigned and returned his authority to the association. The board officially delegated it to Technical Director Lee Jinhak. He inherited the organization's emergency decision-making power.
Administrative Efficiency: In a crisis of prolonged coaching vacancy, convincing and contracting a final candidate as the full delegate was merely fulfilling his duty as an administrator.
Spot on with my take. He stepped in as acting chair to fill the void. If the chair does chair things, what's the problem? There were even talks of a hearing.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced an audit; the association pushed back. The public snapped back: "If you're clean, just sit still."
Damn... "If you're innocent, stay quiet" gets twisted like this too.
I didn't care if they audited the association or not—hearings, audits, whatever. I just wanted the public, media, and government to follow the rule of law.
So... politely asking the pitchfork mob: Do you respect the laws of an incorporated association? You know the Football Association is an incorporated association, right? That's why you're wielding pitchforks?
Let's clarify: The Football Association is an incorporated association—a private entity, not a government body. Legally and administratively, board resolution delegating full authority, and the delegate deciding, has no flaws.
Even if internal issues exist, it's the association's self-governance. Not for the public to intervene or pressure. Whining about a private entity's autonomy under "public interest" is mob bullying and overreach.
Simply: The public yelling "follow procedure" is ordering a legally incorporated association to ignore its rules and obey them instead. If external powers meddling in an association's decisions isn't violating autonomy, why have laws?
I acknowledge audits if subsidies, public interest laws, or coaching grounds apply. But the public driving the current sentiment knows better how this audit starts.
Who the hell is telling whom to follow the law?
I had no choice but to define the public's rage this way. Still, maybe I was missing something, so I'd watch the association's response and the public a bit more.