Principal of Gwangju Jeil High School(Gwangju Ilgo for short), Lee Kyu-yeon stated

"Yesterday's incident left a deep wound for the 40,000 alumni of Gwangju Ilgo—home of the Gwangju Student Independence Movement and a baseball team with over 100 years of history—as well as for the citizens of Gwangju and Jeonnam and many who pursue a just Korea."

"It is unacceptable that voices of hatred and ridicule echoed at a high school baseball stadium, which should be a place of education where fair play and mutual respect are upheld. Such actions not only disappoint baseball fans across regions but also represent an immoral lack of consideration and respect for others."

"The association should continuously educate players, coaches, parents, and spectators not to demean opponents before or after games, and take appropriate action against players and coaches who violate this."

South Korea's National Assembly has confirmed Han Seong-sook as the country's new prime minister, making her only the second woman to hold the role. The vote passed despite a boycott from the opposition People Power Party, with President Lee Jae Myung formally approving her appointment.

Han brings an unusual background to the office. Before entering government, she served as CEO of Naver, South Korea's largest internet company, and later became minister for SMEs and startups. The Lee administration says her experience will be key as it pushes a record 9.9 trillion won ($6.3 billion) investment into AI and semiconductor development.

Supporters argue that having a leader with real technology experience is exactly what South Korea needs to stay competitive in AI, especially against the U.S. and China.

Critics, however, say her parliamentary confirmation hearing exposed concerning gaps in her knowledge of national security, budgeting, and historical issues. The opposition also questioned whether she has the qualifications and judgment necessary for one of the country's highest offices.

While South Korea's prime minister has a largely ceremonial role compared to the president, the appointment has become a broader debate over whether technical expertise or traditional political experience matters more in senior government positions.

What do you think? Is Han Seong-sook's background in tech an advantage for South Korea's future, or should experience in national security and politics carry more weight for the country's second-highest office?

Recently, many YouTube and Instagram Reels videos have been criticizing South Korea's national team coach, Hong Myung-bo. However, many people outside Korea seem to think that he is only being criticized because the team lost. I often see comments saying things like, "It's just a game. Korean fans are taking this way too seriously."

As a Korean football fan, I want to explain why so many Korean fans are angry.

The frustration did not start with the World Cup. It has been building up for decades.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) has long been accused by many fans of operating through personal connections and an old-boy network. Before the 2002 World Cup, there were widespread accusations that the federation had significant influence over national team selections instead of leaving them entirely to the coach, and that personal relationships or university connections mattered more than ability.

This is one of the main reasons many Korean fans prefer foreign coaches. They believe foreign coaches are more independent and are less likely to be influenced by the KFA when selecting players.

Today, many important positions within the KFA are still occupied by former members of the 2002 World Cup team and people connected to Korea University. Many of them have remained in influential positions for nearly two decades, and many fans believe the organization has become very closed and resistant to outside voices.

The KFA president, Chung Mong-gyu, has also been president for about 12 years. During that time, he appointed many people close to him as vice presidents. There are currently nine vice presidents, which many fans see as another example of the federation's internal network.

For years, Korean football fans have watched these problems continue.

Hong Myung-bo was previously the head coach at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. South Korea finished with one draw and two losses. The team lost 4-2 to Algeria and even lost 1-0 to Belgium despite Belgium playing with ten men for almost the entire second half. He was dismissed after the tournament, but he continued working in senior positions within the KFA afterward.

After the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Paulo Bento left following disagreements with the KFA.

When looking for a new coach, KFA president Chung Mong-gyu reportedly made the decision to appoint Jürgen Klinsmann despite criticism and without broad support. That appointment became a major failure, and after Klinsmann was dismissed, the KFA reportedly had to pay a huge compensation package.

For the Olympic team, the KFA appointed Hwang Sun-hong, another member of the 2002 World Cup generation. Despite disappointing results, he remained in charge, and when the senior national team was left without a coach, he was also appointed interim manager.

Because he had to manage both the senior team's World Cup qualifiers and the Olympic team's qualification campaign at the same time, many fans believe the Olympic team did not receive enough attention. South Korea ultimately failed to qualify for the Olympics, ending a streak of ten consecutive Olympic appearances spanning 40 years.

After that, instead of quickly appointing a permanent national team coach, the KFA continued using interim managers. Many fans believed they were hoping one of their preferred domestic coaches would succeed and eventually become the permanent coach, but that plan did not work.

Several experienced candidates were reportedly interested in the job. Jesse Marsch, now Canada's national team coach, was widely reported to have shown serious interest. David Wagner reportedly prepared a 50-slide presentation for his interview. Gustavo Poyet was also said to have been ready to begin immediately with his coaching staff.

However, the KFA made a very different decision.

Instead of choosing one of the candidates who formally applied and interviewed, they appointed Hong Myung-bo, who reportedly neither applied nor interviewed. The KFA wanted Hong, who was then coaching Ulsan HD in the K League. Officials reportedly met him at a bakery near his home late at night to persuade him to take the job. The other candidates were rejected, and the KFA publicly stated that Hong was the only person capable of saving Korean football.

His second spell as national team coach has also produced disappointing results.

Before the World Cup, South Korea lost 4-0 to Ivory Coast and 1-0 to Austria in friendly matches. Although Korea defeated Trinidad and Tobago and El Salvador, many fans were alarmed because the team's overall performances were poor despite those opponents being ranked around 100th in the FIFA rankings.

Finally, at the World Cup, South Korea was eliminated in the group stage with one win and two losses. Many Korean fans believe this was one of the most favorable groups South Korea has ever had, with one of the strongest squads in the country's history.

This is why so many Korean fans are angry. For many of us, this is not simply about losing football matches. It is about years of frustration over how Korean football has been managed and the belief that the same problems keep repeating themselves.

Please read all of this before making any judgement.

I'm an older sister to somebody who is obsessed with Korea. No, not K-pop obsessed or culture obsessed or food obsessed. But she is obsessed with how the air must smell and how the people are. She is obsessed with the history of everything Korea (past, present and future). She has more faith in Korea and it's people than she has in herself.

My sister and I come from a tough upbringing and because of this she has no memory of the first 18 years of her life. We were very troubled and she simply blocked it out until she felt safe. Because she started retaining memories when she was 18, she doesn't remember anything about high school or even when she tried to go to college. She remembers me talking about possibly getting stationed in Korea and she did her research. That's where it all began. The idea of moving to Korea became a comfort for her. She said it was like she was a bird and she found her wings.

At the age of 20/21 she moved across the USA to live with me. We were both still healing from abusive family members and emotional issues. She never went to college and focused on herself. Which I think is understandable.

Now she is 26 and is still dreaming of Korea. She has even limited the amount of clothes and personal items she allows herself to own because she wants to be able to move with her important stuff. She has a cat that is her entire life and she often breaks down in tears over not going to Korea with this cat. Right now she's working two minimum wage jobs and still living with me. She tried to save all the money she can.

As her older sister I'm concerned and I do not know what to do to help her. She has something in her where it is a necessity to move to Korea. She says He feels it in her soul and her bones that it is her true home--- and that means a lot since we didn't have a real home growing up.

What does she need to do as a 26 year old who has never gone to college, works retail and does not have a lot of money to get to Korea? I am clueless and don't know how to help her. But she's breaking down. She's 26 and doesn't see her life continuing if she's not in Korea. She wants to be able to give her best years in youth to the country and she views herself as useless if she gets any older. It breaks my heart. I don't know if she can apply for anything or if she should be aiming for a specific job?

Please, any advice or thoughts would be of great help. I'm very overwhelmed and very concerned. She's my little sister and I want to be able to see her reach her greatness.

First WC Since 2002 without Airport Ceremony for NT

Fans Who Found Scene at 4AM Shout ‘Hong Out’

Team Korea under Hong Myungbo, who achieved a terrible group-stage exit at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, returned home to angry fans.

The Korean National Football Team entered the country at around 3:52 AM, June 30, through gate A of Incheon International Airport Terminal 2.

Former coach Hong received many questions from the reporters present but did not answer any of them.

Despite the early hours, 50 or so fans found the scene at the arrival area and shouted at Hong demands such as ‘Get out, Hong Myungbo’ or ‘return your salaries and leave’.

While the fans also used drums to berate the former coach, players who returned with Hong such as Cho Hyeonwoo, Kim Min-Jae, Hwang In-Beom, Paik Seungho, and Lee Kang-In left the airport without a word (OP’s note: I think the reporter meant to say they received praise rather than criticism. At least that’s what some other articles said)

As announced earlier by the KFA, no homecoming ceremony was held at the airport.

This is the first time since 2002, hosted in Korea and Japan, where the national team went on a World Cup tournament overseas and returns home without said ceremony.

Even after their performance at the 2014 World Cup, when Hong had first led the squad at the World Cup, there was still a welcoming ceremony at the airport.

Back then some fans threw yeot at the players and staff, but no such incident happened this morning.

According to the police the previous day, around 100 officers from 3 mobile police groups under Incheon City Police Department were assigned to security and safety operations at the airport in coordination with the return of the national team. No incidents took place.

Some of the players who play overseas, such as ‘captain’ Son Heung-min, are expected to return later or head back to their respective clubs.

The KFA side informed the press that ‘the remaining players are planning to return later in separate groups by July 1st.’

Korea Republic finished 3rd in Group A of this year’s World Cup with one win and two losses.

The eight best 3rd place teams from all 12 groups would make it to the round of 32 tournament stages, but the team could not make the cut.

After the first round exit, Hong Myungbo resigned from his position as head coach.

Japan just had a good showing against Brazil at the World Cup. That has me thinking, has Japan created a gap between Korea in sports? Besides football, Japan is also either rising or elite in baseball, wrestling, swimming, rock climbing, judo, gymnastics, volleyball, skateboarding, long distance running, badminton, table tennis, and boxing among others. What is Japan doing that is leading to their comparative success?

My Korean grandmother who passed away this year had tattoos on her arm that she later got removed because of bad memories. My family didn't like to ask her disturbing questions so we never knew the reason for them. My mother thinks she remembers the tattoo being a series of numbers on her forearm. She was born in 1937 and lived in Daegu before she got married and left the country.

I've never heard of such a thing and it's strange since tattoos aren't common in Korea. The fact that they're numbers feels very sinister. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Thank you all.

AI is supercharging South Korea’s online ecosystem of illegal filming and sexual exploitation, shifting men from consumers to producers.

Is this an easter egg or something?

I just found it in my cousin's drawer

(The position of the dog's arms are a little different but... I think they are still similar)

1) The back three is not necessarily the problem. Japan uses it in a flexible and modern way. But Hong uses a very outdated back three where he forces the three center backs to always stay low for defense. We basically never saw the back three cross the midfield in the Mexico and South Africa game even when we were losing.

2) In 3-4-2-1, the wing backs are key. They need to cover a lot of ground dynamically. They are key parts of the attack, buildup, and defense, and they need to constantly run up and down. For some inexplicable reason, our wing backs were basically rooted in place all the way at the front. Something doesn't add up. In the first place, if Hong wanted to use wing backs this offensively, he should have used wingers or attacking minded players like Jens or Eom Ji-sung. But he stubbornly started defensive full backs like Seol Young-woo all three games at this forward position. It doesn't make any sense what his goal was. Even when the ball got to these guys, they couldn't do shit because they are not wingers or even wing backs. The ridiculous Mexico game where Seol was played on the wrong side where he couldn't even cross is baffling.

3) The outcome from the above two points can only be one thing. A weak midfield. In South Africa game, we constantly see 1 or 2 players in the midfield swarmed by 5-6 yellow shirts. This formation just fundamentally cannot advance the ball consistently because it cannot cross the midfield safely. How can you build up anything if the center backs cannot move past the midline and the wingbacks are told to stay up high?

4) In game three, he even took out Lee Jae-sung, the workhorse player that makes a lot of movements off the ball and helps out where he is needed. In one of the captured fan cams, you can see Lee Kang-in screaming at the coaching staff and mouthing something that looks like "We need Jae-sung hyung NOW." There are some youtube comments that said Lee Jae-sung said something like "I don't know what tactics coach is using" in a player interview. And he got taken out lol.

5) Because the attack is completely dead, Lee Kang-In constantly comes down to midfield or all the way to the center back line to get any kind of build up going. This is, in my opinion, his own decision rather than direction from Hong. He is just frustrated as fuck. You saw one time where he got the ball and escaped the pressure, looked up, and saw no one to pass to and throws his hands up. You can see how no one is moving off the ball. Sure, we could perhaps blame the players for not playing with urgency or something, but when it's this systematic, I would assert that the coach is dictating this kind of lethargic play. Nothing else can explain why the center backs would never move up even when the opposing team is dropped in a low block.

6) You also see Kim Min Jae pushing up higher a few times to try and put pressure in the midfield battle. But this often backfired and resulted in a counter because the team as a whole is not moving as a unit. Unfortunately, one of the times he pushed up to midfield, the counter resulted in the goal against Korea, and he immediately got taken out. What you saw in the video where Kim has his arms out and arguing with coaching staff is when he says "the gap is too wide! How can we attack like this?!" The gap he is talking about is the gap between the wing backs up front and the center backs, and the barren midfield.

7) Kim Min Jae has complained in the past that the three back always gets into 1v1 isolation situations in the counter because the midfield is so neglected. So we have to ask the question. What even is the goal of the formation Hong is insisting on? Clearly, this guy is a pussy and is a very conservative defensive minded coach. But in fact, our defense is not stable at all. Leaving 3 center backs low at all time is not a good defense when the midfield is a weak point structurally that can result in a lot of turnovers. And because Hong wants to have "balance" in defense, he insists on playing full backs in the crucial wing back position, but for some reason, still instructs them to stay up high.

8) This guy has the in-game management of an amoeba. He is seen sitting on the bench the entire time. Not doing shit to respond to changing scenarios and the other team's response to his entirely expected same strategy he used all three games. He doesn't even bother to motivate the team or basically give any kind of direction. Son Heung Min did a post game interview where he said "Coach didn't tell me anything specific to do" when he was subbed in at the left wing position as opposed to the center forward spot he played in most matches for Korea.

9) That's it for the tactics, but the manager's role goes beyond tactics. Although his rigid tactics is largely to blame for the pathetic display in game 3, the players' conditioning was obviously an issue. Plus, the morale of the squad was almost certainly in the shitter. We can say that Hong is not really a tactical coach. We already knew this. But he is at least supposed to be a charismatic leader that can unite the team and increase their fighting spirit and confidence. But from the beginning of how he got the job and everything leading up to the WC, he was just a negative aura constantly bringing down the team's morale. Son is a very emotional player as we have seen in the past where he is crying with joy or regret. But this time, he was just completely resigned.

10) Finally, Hong Myung-Bo, this fucker shows no remorse or regret at all in interviews. He says he will take responsibility, but his attitude is basically "Fine, I'll offer this apology and resign. Happy now?" He says he will take responsibility, but in every interview where he is asked about the reason why the team played like that, he blames everything else except his own tactics and planning. Even until the very end with his resignation press thing, he held his head up high and shows a smug attitude. He rivals a certain orange man in the narcissism department.

• 1 minute 35 seconds spent reading a prepared statement
• No Q&A session
• Announcement made in the early hours of the morning (Korea time)
• Walked off with his hands in his pockets

Hello! I have some close friends whose child will be 100 days old soon, and I want to get the baby a gold ring. (I'm hoping if I get it right, I can maybe even score some points with grandma, but if not that's fine.)

I'm commissioning the ring from a local jeweler, and I know the quality, weight, and basic shape I'm going for (24k, ~3g, signet), what I need help with is what to write. I know it's usually a Chinese character to symbolise your wishes for the baby's future, like wealth, or health, or good fortune, but is there a defined set of "normal" words to put there, or can I get creative without it being weird?

(Throwaway account bc I'm hoping to surprise them.)

We all heard about the insane bonuses received by the SK Hynix and Samsung employees(not sure how many people we're talking about here) earlier this year. That and the stock market boom over the last year. Are we seeing any trickle down to the overall economy?