Director Hong believed that the process by which he was appointed as former coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s successor was fair overall. Coach Hong, who was once in charge of the Korean Football Association’s administration as an executive director, said during a question on pending issues of the National Assembly’s Culture and Sports Committee, “I have experienced it once (as an executive director), so speaking from that experience, I do not think there was any unfairness or preferential treatment.” He added, “I received the position of director because the strengthening committee ranked me first.”
Director Hong received the most votes, 7, along with Director David Wagner, from members at the 10th Power Strengthening Committee meeting, the last meeting led by former Chairman Jeong on June 21. As he led Ulsan HD in professional soccer K League 1 until recently, he drew the line that he could not provide answers to administrative issues that he could not answer.
Regarding the 11th meeting of the Power Strengthening Committee, which was mentioned as the center of controversy in the question on pending issues, Director Hong avoided giving a direct answer, saying, “I don’t know about that. I don’t know much about the situation.”
Coach Hong was selected as the national team coach, beating Coach Wagner and Gus Poyet, who were final candidates. Unlike these two candidates, it was later revealed that Director Hong was appointed without conducting an interview or presentation, leading to criticism that the selection process was unfair.
In response, Director Hong added that a procedure similar to an ‘interview’ was carried out during a meeting held at 11 PM on July 5th, immediately after Director Lee returned from a business trip to Europe. He said, “Director Lee wrote down everything I was talking about. After listening to Director Lee’s story, I also shared my thoughts.” He added, “In it, there was the Korean soccer technology philosophy, my soccer philosophy, the plan to link the national team with the age-based national team, and my several “There were different technical formations and soccer styles,” he explained.
He added, “It is not correct to say that Director Lee asked me for the national team. It should be seen that he suggested it to me,” adding, “He suggested it, and I made the decision.”
https://n.news.naver.com/article/015/0005036305?sid=103