The KNT in Crisis: A Spy in the Camp, Infighting, and Retirement Rumors

Before we unpack the most recent Moreno friendlies (Uruguay Venezuela and Uzbekistan), several MAJOR points of controversy have surfaced. It’s extremely clear that the team is fractured and infighting. In Korean we say the 분위기 (the mood? the atmosphere?) is bad. A reporter point blank asked Lee Kang In how is the 분위기 in the team, and he paused and stuttered for a solid few seconds prior to mustering an “I don’t know”. LKI is one of the most diplomatic and well-trained in terms of media-speak members of the team – for him to say “I don’t know” like this is a glaring sign that something is very wrong.

Kim Min Jae’s Pleas for Unity

It started with the Venezuela game. Kim Min Jae, subbed out, was visibly upset, throwing his shoes away in a rage, and closing his eyes to calm down. Following the Venezuela match, which left many fans feeling even more uneasy than the Uruguay game, KMJ didn’t hold back in his post-match interview. Choked up and frustrated, his comments laid bare the glaring issues within the squad’s current intensity:

1. 포백 얘기보다는 다 같이 싸우는 느낌이 들지 않았다. 수비수들 보면 불쌍하다. 오늘 경기 전체적으로 다같이 싸우는 느낌이 들지 않았다. 7-0으로 이겼든, 9-0으로 이겼든 만족스럽지 않았을 것 같다. Translation: “It didn’t feel like everyone was fighting together. When you look at the defenders, it’s pitiful. Overall in today’s match, it didn’t feel like everyone was fighting together. Even if we had won 7-0 or 9-0, I wouldn’t have been satisfied” KMJ bluntly pointed out that the team isn’t fighting together. No one was pressing and no one was helping defend, so KMJ and the backline are left scrambling, running huge distances, to contest 1v1 duels, while the rest of the team isn’t sharing the defensive burden.
2. 모든 선수가 머리 처박고 열심히 해야 한다: He emphasized that individual brilliance means nothing if the team doesn’t bleed and run together, calling for a total shift in physical commitment and aggressiveness. The emotional weight of his words – borderline cursing with the 처박고 portion – even caused the broadcast to cut him off mid-sentence.
3. 팀이 하나로 뭉치는 게 가장 중요하다. 개인이 돋보이려 하기보다 팀이 하나로 뭉쳐 뛰어야만 원하는 결과를 얻을 수 있다: directly translated: The most important thing is for the team to unite as one. Rather than individuals trying to stand out, we can only get the results we want if the team unites and runs together
4. 전술적인 문제가 아니다. 제 생각엔 다 같이 싸워야 한다: This isn’t a tactical problem. In my opinion, everyone just needs to fight

I italicized the parts about individuals trying to stand out because this international break was Son Heung Min’s chance to break Cha Bum Kun’s KNT all time goal scoring record – a record that has stood for over 45 years. More on Son Heung Min’s role in all this later.

Groundless Retirement Rumors:

Then, after the Uzbekistan game, the media threw in a bombshell report: that the ’96 line (Kim Min Jae, Hwang In Beom, and Hwang Hee Chan) were unhappy with team leadership and were considering retirement from the national team. At the time we thought it was just typical unverified stupid Korean media gossip, manufacturing sensationalism just as they ruined the 분위기 of the national team during the World Cup with the Son Heung Min military service remarks. Here’s how things unfolded:

The Headlines: The initial reports were aggressively manipulative. The very first article titles were even more explicit, claiming that on the exact day Son Heung Min carved his name into history, Kim Min Jae, Hwang In Beom, and Hwang Hee Chan had expressed their intent to retire from the national team. The clear, malicious narrative being pushed was that the ’96-line trio couldn’t stand Son Heung Min and were walking away because of a personal feud. The articles claimed that according to this ’96 line trio, “nothing is changing” – though what that actually meant was never verified. The media claimed that the disputes went back to the 2026 World Cup time, pointing to lingering disagreements over backchannel press gossip and whether to maintain an interview boycott. The media tried to split the squad into two camps: the senior line (Son Heung Min, Lee Jae Sung) who wanted the interview boycott versus the ’96 trio (who didn’t agree), while baselessly dragging Son for failing to control his teammates.

^This I really thought was entirely Korean media being their usual toxic selves. Pissed that Son advocated for a media boycott and got the KFA to go along with it, it makes too much sense they’d make him look like the villain. Even though the media boycott was completely their own fault after having one of their own journalists insult SHM on live television. The ultimate irony of the interview boycott is that the sports media conveniently glossed over the root cause of the original interview boycott. It wasn’t player-on-player hostility; it was sparked because reporters got caught talking trash behind the scenes and caused a massive uproar. Yet, the media managed to spin their own journalistic failure right back around into an alleged “squad discord.”

No verified source: When tracing where these explosive claims came from there was zero substance. They claimed htis info was all “according to acquaintances close to national team players” meaning that no one ever stepped forward to say they wanted to retire. It was merely anonymous third-party hearsay.

The Official Denials and KFA Response: Hwang In Beom immediately shut it down post-match with a direct “No” to retirement rumors. The Korea Football Association (KFA) also dismissed the reports as completely groundless fake news coming out of the locker room.

National Team “Spies” and Group Chat Leaks

If media-manufactured retirement rumors and the military exemption controversy wasn’t enough, things got worse. Somehow, a group chat text got leaked. Yesterday on 10/7, a screenshot of Hwang Hee Chan and Kim Min Jae’s texts to the KNT private group chat apologizing to their teammates for disrupting the squad’s atmosphere with recent events surfaced.

The terrifying realization for fans and management isn’t that players had a private conversation or felt the need to clear the air. It’s the fact that journalists immediately got hold of the exact contents of that private chat. This is… really bad. Really, really bad. Locker room disputes are inevitable, but when it comes out into the open like this, it spells disaster. No successful team can allow things like this to happen. Moreno said it himself: “disputes should be settled internally” when asked about all this.

Remember Real Madrid’s bust-up between Tchouameni and Valverde? Unchecked internal politics destroy teams. Look at Real Madrid last season, plagued by “Alonso faction vs. anti-Alonso faction” and later “Arbeloa faction vs. anti-Arbeloa faction.” Teams where players backstab each other in the shadows are 100% guaranteed to fail.

Remember Rúben Amorim’s tenure at Manchester United? When the club faced recurring issues with confidential internal information finding its way onto social media well ahead of kick-off? The situation boiled over in December 2024 ahead of the Manchester Derby against Manchester City, when the entire starting XI was leaked online nearly a day before the match. This prompted an internal investigation by the club to track down the source of the leaks (the “mole” or “spy”).

For an example of how things are handled well, look no further than Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo fought openly with the manager and left the team mid-tournament. Yet, Portuguese players actively refused to gossip to the press, explicitly stating they wouldn’t ruin the team atmosphere. And then they went on to win both games post-Ronaldo.

Were the Warning Signs Always There? Is Son Heung Min the problem?

In retrospect, this is nothing new for our Taeguk Warriors.

First there was the “treatment room controversy” during Paulo Bento’s tenure, more famously known as the Room 2701 Controversy (2701호 논란). This took place behind the scenes during the 2022 Qatar World Cup with a major rift between the national team players, their preferred private physiotherapist, and the Korea Football Association’s (KFA) official medical staff.

Then there was the physical altercation at the 2023 Asian Cup between Son Heung Min and Lee Kang In.

Then Kim Min Jae expressed his frustration with the KNT in March 2023. And then Son and Kim unfollowed each other on Instagram. Son even put up a very long post on Instagram about what an honor it is to represent the national team in an indirect shot at Kim Min Jae. Jae covered this story on the Tavern all those years ago.

Then there was the JTBC hot mic incident that we alluded to above.

This team has always had a bit of a media leakage problem. But the interesting thing is that Son happens to be at the middle of all of them. Is it because he’s the highest profile guy on the team? Or is he actually not a great leader and everyone else is fed up?

Hwang In Beom was quoted as the following:

이 대표팀에 들어온 지가 9년째인데, 여러 부분에서 달라진 게 별로 없다는 생각이 든다. 선수들 입장에서 쉽지 않다. 회장도 없고, 임시 감독 체제고… 좋은 방향으로 한국 축구가 나아갔으면 좋겠는데 그런 부분들이 잘 안 되는 것 같아 책임감을 느낀다. 이런 말을 하면 또 여러 말들이 나오겠지만, 답답한 건 사실이다. Translation: This is my ninth year with the national team, and I feel like nothing has changed. It’s not easy from the players’ perspective. There’s no association president and we’re under an interim coach … I really hope Korean football moves forward in a good direction, but it feels like those things aren’t happening, so I feel a deep sense of responsibility. I know that if I say things like this all sorts of talk will come up again, but it’s true that it’s frustrating.

Coincidence or not, Son Heung Min has been national team captain those 9 years. And whether Son has anything to do with it or not, in those 9 years frustrations have been boiling over both within the squad and with the public with its anger towards the KFA. Korean media may be toxic and operating on speculation with help from some spies in the camp, but I have a gut feeling that it might be time for a change in leadership. Park Ji Sung and Ki Sung Yong were born leaders who united the team. Son Heung Min, as great of a player as he is and as much as we love him, has not had quite the same leadership prowess as the other two. He got his 59 goals, and hopefully he gets more, but I wonder if it’s time to start building the team around younger talent. And who would take over the captaincy anyway? Kim Min Jae is too vocal in the media and while the most passionate in the team, might not make for the best look in a captain. Lee Kang In (according to unverified media hearsay) is not super well liked in the team either as he reportedly does not fit in well with the standard hierarchical Korean culture having grown up in Spain.

What Jae had to say on the matter back in March 2023:

My disappointment with Son Heung-min

I am not particularly impressed with Son Heung-min’s reaction to the situation. I don’t know if his post was aimed at Kim Min-jae or not. But regardless, the timing is certainly suspicious. When a teammate has publicly stated how they’re tired and want to focus on their club at the moment, and then you – as team captain – post about how proud you are to wear your country’s shirt and what an honor it is? It is certainly eyebrow raising. Regardless of Son Heung-min’s intentions, it sends a message. To me that message was, “I love the national team, and I guess Kim Min-jae doesn’t.”

The issue is that he’s team captain. The underlying message was, “I’ll throw you under the bus if I don’t agree with what you say/do.” This is just my personal opinion, but to me the team captain’s primary responsibility is to represent the players. He is the face and representative of the team – the players – not the KFA and not the country. If he’s pissed at Kim Min-jae’s comments, he should’ve dealt with them privately. He should be aware that his status in the country (and internationally) compounds the issue.

Even if he did feel the need to express his disappointment with Kim Min-jae’s comments, I think he could have at least soften it a little by trying to minimize or play down Kim Min-jae’s words or offering a potentially less ‘shocking’ interpretation. Given the time difference between Kim Min-jae’s interview and his post he was surely aware of how it may be interpreted and how the public and media was reacting.

This is why, when we wrote the post on whether Son Heung-min should continue as captain, I was positive towards handing it to Kim Min-jae. Now, I don’t think that’ll ever happen anymore. If it does pass from Son Heung-min it will probably go to Hwang In-beom or the like. Anyway, I didn’t (and now more so) think that Son Heung-min is a leader. A leader should’ve recognized the situation and at least tried to shield a player from his team (and a very key player at that), even if he didn’t approve of the comment.

Whether Son is culpable in any of this or not doesn’t matter. What matters is that the squad is fracturing from the top down, and no amount of individual talent can mask a completely broken culture. We thought it was just the coaching that was broken, but it turns out both the management and the culture between the players have been broken all along.

Our team is psychologically spent. And naturally, we are too.

What Now?

Senior leaders and everyone involved – Son, Lee Jae sung, and the 96 line – have to step up and take control of the narrative. More importantly, the KFA and national team staff need to clamp down hard, taking a page out of strict club-level management to purge the leaks, protect the players, and stop feeding media vultures their headlines before the Asian Cup creeps up on them. Whoever the mole is needs to be identified and stopped ASAP. Hopefully not in public as their image in the Korean public’s eyes will get destroyed.

Surely the KFA knows that fans don’t tune in to watch high school drama; we want a solid push into the World Cup and Asian Cup and SOME, ANY indication that things are going in the right direction. It is the KFA’s fundamental job, much like a professional club’s board, to block reporters from writing speculative, unverified personal guesswork and to educate players against leaking.

We need the players focus on the pitch, let Coach Moreno implement his tactics, and let the toxic rumor-mongering die out. The national team belongs to the fans and the players on the grass, not clickbait columnists. And if issues occur internally, which it 100% has and will continue to happen, it must be dealt with swiftly and internally without journalists and the public getting involved.