South Korea’s World Cup exit did not just end with a sad locker room and fans yelling at their TVs. It has made its way across the president’s desk.

After South Korea’s elimination from Group A on Saturday, June 27, head coach Hong Myung-bo resigned the next day, ending a turbulent second stint in charge of the national team.

“I deeply apologize to the Korean public who supported our team. Today, I am stepping down,” Hong said in a press conference. “Taking this job was never an easy choice, but from the moment I accepted it, my only focus was to fulfill my duties responsibly until the end.”

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But the fallout from the loss did not stop with him.

On Sunday, June 28, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for a formal government investigation into the team’s disappointing tournament, while fan anger spilled from social media into real-world security concerns ahead of the squad’s return home.

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On paper, South Korea’s tournament wasn’t all bad. The team opened with a 2-1 win over Czechia before losing 0-1 to Mexico, which meant the final group match against South Africa mattered: A win would have put South Korea in a much stronger position to advance, and even a draw could have helped its case under the expanded World Cup format, which allows the eight best third-place teams to reach the Round of 32. Instead, South Korea lost 0-1, finished third in Group A with three points, and had to wait for other results to learn whether that would be enough. Spoiler: it wasn’t.

It was Hong’s lineup choice against South Africa, though, that enraged fans the most. In the match South Korea needed to rescue its tournament, Hong left Son Heung-min out of the starting lineup, saying afterward that he planned to use him later when South Africa was tired. Son came on at halftime, but by then South Korea was already chasing the game.

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Hong later admitted he would not make the same decision again, but by then the damage had already been done. And the wave of hate from home that has gone far beyond standard post-tournament disappointment.

Reports out of South Korea have described online death threats against Hong, heightened police security ahead of the team’s return to Incheon International Airport, and furious fan reaction across social media.

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Fans are especially frustrated because South Korea had enough talent to expect more. The team included Son Heung-min, one of Asia’s biggest soccer stars, along with European-based players like Lee Kang-in and Kim Min-jae. Son Heung-min, the team’s captain, has posted a lengthy apology on Instagram, asking supporters not to direct excessive criticism and hurt toward the players.

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Hong’s return as head coach in 2024 had already been controversial, with fans questioning whether the Korea Football Association had run a fair hiring process. The sports ministry previously alleged that the KFA had not followed its own procedures, including reportedly “a reasonable interview process.”

President Lee made clear that he sees the collapse as more than a bad coaching spell. In a statement posted to social media, Lee said he felt “not just confusion but utter bewilderment” over the result and argued that South Korea’s early exit reflected deeper problems with leadership and personnel decisions.

“When favoritism and cronyism take precedence over competence in selecting a commander, the result is as predictable as fire burning paper,” Lee wrote.

Lee also pointed to the taxpayer money and state resources used to support the national team, making the case that the World Cup failure was not just a private soccer matter. Because public money goes into the team’s participation, he argued, the public is owed a clearer explanation of what went wrong. He called on the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism to investigate the circumstances around the exit, analyze the causes, and propose reforms to prevent a repeat.

If that sounds like an unusually dramatic response to a World Cup exit, it is not entirely without precedent.

The closest comparison may be France in 2010, when Les Bleus imploded at the World Cup in South Africa after Nicolas Anelka was sent home and the players boycotted training in protest. The disaster quickly moved beyond the locker room: then-President Nicolas Sarkozy publicly condemned the team’s behavior, captain Thierry Henry was brought to the Élysée Palace, and France’s parliament held hearings into the national team’s failure.

For Hong, this ending is especially complicated. As a player, he remains one of the most important figures in South Korean soccer history, having captained the country during its historic run to the 2002 World Cup semifinals. As a coach, though, both of his World Cup stints with the national team have ended in group-stage disappointment: first in 2014, and now again in 2026.

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There were security concerns around Hong’s return home. It seems to be just as rowdy as they expected, according to video footage from the airport at 4 a.m., where fans were waiting in the Arrivals hall armed with insults.

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This, alarmingly, is not the first time South Korean fans have quite literally thrown eggs at their home team.

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For South Korea, the World Cup may be over, but its clear a very dramatic postmortem is just getting started.